Lib Dems reveal Environment Agency chief's free hospitality from water industry

From the Shropshire Star:

The chairman of the environment watchdog met with water company lobbyists for a near-£100 dinner days before proposals for a major bill hike were reported.

Environment Agency chief Alan Lovell accepted a £96 dinner from Water UK, the industry body representing Britain’s water firms.

The dinner, which took place on June 20 last year, came a week before reports suggesting water companies were pushing for a 40% rise in bills to improve the UK’s water infrastructure.

The regulator and water firms were accused of having a “chummy relationship”, by the Liberal Democrats, who revealed the hospitality and gifts received by Mr Lovell in a freedom of information request.

The paper goes on to quote our environment spokesperson Tim Farron:

"This will rightly stink to the public. Government officials shouldn’t be accepting a penny from a disgraced industry which pollutes our rivers whilst hiking bills."

I see what he did there.

The Lib Dems also revealed that Lovell accepted a £200 dinner and hotel stay from Yorkshire Water, as well as a £60 dinner from Severn Trent Water.