Reform UK’s Blueprint to End Hosepipe Bans and Expand Water Infrastructure

Reform UK has pledged that, if it entered government, it would abolish temporary hosepipe bans that currently affect more than 27 million people in England and Wales. The party also says it would drop the government’s target to cut per-capita water consumption by 20 percent by 2038, arguing that Britain’s climate-driven water shortages can be solved by expanding supply rather than restricting use. Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf dismissed existing bans as the result of “fools” in government and claimed that countries such as Singapore and Saudi Arabia manage water without emergency restrictions.

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The party’s supply-side strategy rests on three pillars. First, it would designate any project holding over 10 million cubic metres of water as a “nationally significant infrastructure” project, thereby easing planning constraints and allowing the construction of additional reservoirs. By comparison, Labour’s plan calls for nine new reservoirs—the first large-scale ones built in England since 1992. Second, Reform proposes to accelerate the rollout of desalination plants, noting that mainland Britain currently operates a single plant in Beckton, East London, which has cost over £500 million to build and maintain despite being run only five times. Third, the party suggests that these new facilities would be funded through either bill-payer contributions or taxpayer allocations, though it has not detailed a financing model.

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Experts highlight several obstacles to Reform’s supply-focused approach. Building reservoirs is both costly and time-consuming; the Thames Water reservoir project in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, has risen to £7.5 billion, with costs passed on to customers via water bills, and similar flat-terrain reservoirs would require massive engineered walls. Desalination, while technically feasible, carries high capital costs and significant energy and chemical usage, raising environmental concerns. Moreover, the majority of water-stress areas lie in the south, where suitable upland valleys for reservoirs are scarce, limiting rapid expansion.

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Water experts broadly agree that individual consumption will need to fall as climate change intensifies, echoing the government’s 20 percent reduction target of 122 litres per capita per day by 2038. They caution that without such demand-side measures, the financial burden of new infrastructure could increase sharply, potentially passing higher costs onto the public. Reform was approached for comment on its funding plans but did not respond. The party’s proposal therefore rests on a significant shift from demand-reduction policies to large-scale supply projects, a transition whose feasibility and affordability remain contested.

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