Shadow environment secretary, Jim McMahon, put sewage pollution front and centre of his speech at the Labour conference, pledging “Labour will clean up the water industry” in contrast to “allowing over a million sewage spills over the last six years; one every two-and-a-half minutes: every one sanctioned by Tory MPs who blocked changes for tougher action.”
That ‘tougher action’ would, for a Labour Government, include prison terms for the leaders of persistent polluters. “Water bosses that routinely and systematically break the rules will be held professionally and personally accountable, by striking off company directors and ensuring illegal activity is punished.”
Elsewhere on McMahon’s action list were:
• mandatory monitoring of all sewage outlets;
• giving the Environment Agency the power and resources to properly enforce the rules. He referenced here that during Truss’ time as environment secretary “she signed off £24m of funding cuts for environmental protection, including monitoring sewage discharges – very one of those sewage spills goes right to her door”;
• a legally binding target to end 90% of sewage discharges by 2030;
• automatic fines for discharges, and a standing charge penalty for discharge points without monitoring in place; and
• ensuring any failure to improve is paid for by “eroding dividends, not added to customer bills, or hitting vital investment in the system”.
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