Wednesday was World Water Day and I was pleased to join singer Feargal Sharkey and my colleague Jim McMahon MP to support their campaign against the Tory Sewage Scandal which has seen over one million sewage spills into British rivers in the last six years.

Labour’s plan would introduce legislation to end 90 per cent of sewage discharges by 2030 and hold water bosses accountable with fines and strike-offs. Using the current monitoring equipment to impose fines the minute a spill is detected would bring a halt to water companies treating the current inadequately low fines as marginal expenses. At the moment just 14% of UK rivers are in good ecological condition. Without serious intervention this will drop to just 6% by 2027.

The Tories voted in 2021 to allow water companies to dump raw sewage into our waterways, pumping dangerous waste and pollutants into our water system. I am pleased support the campaign to put this right and clean up our rivers and coasts.