Will The Plan To Fix The Water System Work?

Newscast

BBC

Politics, News

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, the long-awaited review of the water sector in England and Wales has finally been published, and it proposes the most sweeping reforms since privatisation over 30 years ago.

Authored by Sir Jon Cunliffe, the report makes 88 recommendations, including scrapping the current regulator, Ofwat, and introducing stronger environmental regulation. Adam and Chris are joined by the BBC’s business editor, Simon Jack, to unpack the findings of the 465-page report.

Meanwhile, the UK and over 20 other nations have condemned the “horrifying” killing of hundreds of Gazans trying to get food from Israel's aid operations. The BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, joins Adam and Chris to discuss the latest developments.

You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://tinyurl.com/newscastcommunityhere

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing [email protected] or send us a whatsapp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1 Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenters were Adam Fleming and Chris Mason. It was made by Rufus Gray, Shiler Mahmoudi and Gabriel May. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	A quick heads up, if you're listening from outside the UK, BBC Sounds is changing.
0:05.5	From July the 21st, you will not be able to use the BBC Sounds app abroad.
0:10.7	But don't worry, you can still find all your favourite podcasts in three different ways.
0:16.3	Number one, on BBC.com.
0:19.0	Number two, via the brand new BBC app, which you can find by just searching for BBC.com. Number two, via the brand new BBC app,
0:22.4	which you can find by just searching for BBC
0:24.8	in whichever app store you use,
0:27.4	or number three, wherever you usually listen to podcasts.
0:31.2	For example, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
0:34.2	And if you're in the UK, you're good,
0:36.6	because nothing's changing. At least as regards
0:39.3	BBC Science. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, Chris. Shall we begin by doing some
0:48.0	correspondence? Let's do it. Not some correspondence. Because we do them every day. Correspondence.
0:53.7	So we had an email from newscaster, Veronica, and it ended with a cartoon.
0:59.8	I think you should describe what the cartoon shows, and then I will read the actual text
1:04.4	that accompany the cartoon.
1:05.5	Well, the cartoon includes a very fetching-looking reporter in a suit and tie with a
1:10.5	press badge around his neck
1:12.3	and a broad smile. Performing something of a dance in Downing Street. A very sort of like
1:19.5	bomb out dance. It is a very bum out dance and immediately next to this particular reporter
1:24.9	is a country singer wearing an even broader smile and a classic country singer's kind of cowboy hat.
1:33.3	And it's fair to say her bum is also out, albeit perhaps less prominently than the male reporters.
	...

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