The Tory U-turn on sewage was weak: Labour’s clean water plan is needed

The government is mired in muck. Not just political corruption, sleaze and scandal, but – due to some hopeless management of the environment bill by Defra – actual muck in the form of raw sewage that is being pumped daily into our rivers and seas.

This is an environmental scandal. Not one English river is in a healthy condition, with not one meeting good chemical standards. In the last year alone, raw sewage was discharged into UK rivers and seas over 400,000 times. England has the worst river quality in Europe. And this government’s response? Whipping their MPs to vote against an amendment that would have stopped raw human sewage pouring into our precious rivers and seas.

Then came the rightful public outcry. And after a few days of the Secretary of State and his ministers digging in, they finally realised how out of touch they were and came to a screeching U-turn. They proposed their own amendment to the environment bill, weaker than what had been supported by Labour in the Lords, but just enough to make it look like they were taking the issue seriously.

We need ministers to get that more urgent action is needed to clean up our rivers. Labour wants stronger legislation but that’s not it. In the Commons this week, I argued we also need higher fines for polluting water companies, proper annual parliamentary scrutiny of Defra, Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the water companies so they can’t hide their inaction. And I argued that we need a clear plan on how much raw human sewage would be stopped being discharged, and by when. These should not be difficult questions, but to this out-of-touch government they smack too much of delivery to get an answer.

Tory MPs who voted against ending raw sewage discharges only a fortnight ago voted en masse for a weaker compromise amendment this week. It means that there’s a loose aim of “progressive reduction” in sewage discharges. Bonus point if you can define what progressive reduction means because ministers couldn’t.

In the middle of a climate and ecological emergency, we must not only cut carbon faster and fairer than we are at the moment – we must also make sure that nature and habitats are protected and species saved from extinction. Our rivers are suffocating under raw sewage, which not only means poo and tissue, it means plastic pollution too.

Clean water is political again and Labour has a clean water plan, with water run in the best interests of the environment and consumers, not shareholders. Labour would toughen up laws on polluting by reviewing legislation on enforcement and sanctions, introducing penalties for under-reporting, and we’ll look at the feasibility of making prosecution for polluters the default when there’s a clear evidence base and when it’s in the public interest. We would stop shareholders taking billions in profits each year from companies that fail to rapidly reduce sewage discharge and start cleaning up our rivers and seas.

From this week, the environment bill is law – becoming the Environment Act. It is packed full of missed opportunities and broken promises. Despite taking over a thousand days to pass through parliament, it has not gone anywhere near far enough on cleaning up our dirty air, getting the sewage out of our rivers and protecting our natural habitats.

The new Office of Environmental Protection has been watered down so much, it’s more of a government lapdog than the strong watchdog we need. The next Labour government will need to revisit this legislation to make it stronger.

The campaign for clean rivers is not over because today, like yesterday, and like tomorrow, water companies will be pumping raw sewage into our precious rivers as part of their routine operation. Until that ends, we must not park this campaign. I want Labour parties up and down the country to look at their local rivers and demand action from their local water companies. If you’ve got a Tory MP, hold them accountable for their voting record and let’s make sure people know the difference between a Labour and a Conservative government would be on raw sewage. It’s mucky work, but we are the generation called to solve this hangover from the government’s reckless disregard for our rivers and privatisation. Let’s get to it.