You may have seen another graphic online about a vote on sewage discharges. It is, as is often the case, completely misleading.
If you’d like to know what really happened, please read on, as I explain it all below. I’m sorry that that means that it is quite long, but this is important stuff and it’s necessary to go into the detail in order to understand it.
The vote last week was on something called the “Environmental Targets (Water) (England) Regulations 2022”.
These regulations proposed targets to improve water quality. This is all building towards the Government’s ambition to end pollution from sewage discharges, transforming our outdated sewerage system.
You can read the Regulations here:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2022/9780348242911
The Conservatives voted in favour of these targets to improve water quality. Labour and the Liberal Democrats voted against them:
https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/1462
That’s right - Labour and the Liberal Democrats voted against targets to improve water quality, and yet have the hypocrisy to criticise Conservative MPs on the entirely false basis that they “voted against measures to ban sewage dumps in rivers.”
This claim is, as you can see from the above, completely false. Politics can be that cynical sometimes, if the opposition are just interested in a social media pile on.
Despite what some may claim, and however much we might all wish it to be the case, the truth is that we cannot transform a system which has operated since the Victorian era overnight with a blanket ban on sewage discharges.
Yet, opposition parties attempt to justify their completely misleading misrepresentation of last week’s vote on the basis that it is in fact some way possible to stop all sewage discharges right now. There are lots of things that we might like to happen right now, but that isn’t the way the World works: it is all very well saying WHAT you would like to happen, but you still have to figure out HOW it is going to happen. We have done that. They have not.
So, what aren't the Liberal Democrats telling you about their half-hearted, smoke-and-mirrors attempt at a plan?
Most importantly, it would not stop sewage discharges:
- Independent research estimates that the complete elimination of sewage discharges through storm overflows in England is likely to cost between £338 billion and £593 billion – or £12,028 to £21,103 per household...
- The Liberal Democrats say that they have plan to raise £340 million a year through a new tax on water companies (that you will pay through your bills, as opposed to the water companies,) to pay for their supposed ban on sewage dumping. £338 to £593 billion is necessary to raise - which under their plan would take 978 to 1704 years...
So, the choice that exists is between a sensible, costed, achievable plan to end this issue, or empty rhetoric simply intended to create a social media pile-on.
The Liberal Democrats, in particular, have a record of failure and empty rhetoric on this topic. They were the ones who held the Water Minister position in the coalition government. It is evidently not as easy to eradicate storm overflows as they are now suggesting.
THIS GOVERNMENT'S RECORD ON WATER QUALITY
So, what is the Government actually doing? Let’s set the record straight on that as well by looking at some facts:
- Since 2016, this government has increased the number of monitors on our waterways from 6% to almost 90%, with 100% by the end of this year.
- That's why the numbers of reported incidents are increasing; because of the increased monitoring directed by us. We have introduced new duties on water companies to monitor the water quality upstream and downstream of storm overflows and sewage disposal works, as well as requiring them to publish near real time information on the operation of storm overflows and data on storm overflow operations. This means we can hold them to account.
- The storm overflow discharge reduction plan requires water companies to produce comprehensive plans to cut down on sewage discharges and to make the largest infrastructure investment in their history - £56bn - to increase processing capacity.
- We have implemented a new legal duty on water companies to produce comprehensive statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans, setting out how they will manage and develop their drainage and sewerage system over 25 years.
We are creating new powers to direct water companies that fail to take action on sewage discharges through the Environment Act. We will not hesitate to use this power of direction to crack down on sewage discharges.
- The Environment Agency and Ofwat have launched the largest ever criminal and civil investigations into waste water treatment works. We are prosecuting water companies that illegally pollute our rivers, making clear that polluters will pay for damage to our environment. Since 2015 the Environment Agency has brought 48 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of over £137 million. Some of the biggest fines were imposed last year – including a record £90 million fine for Southern Water in July for thousands of illegal discharges.
- Since 2008 the percentage of bathing waters rated as excellent has increased from 53% to 72% with those rated as poor falling from 12% to 3%.
The fact is that this Government has done more than any other in history on the issue of water quality. Sewage discharge into our rivers is unacceptable and we have voted for steps to address it - unlike the other parties.
The Conservatives have voted for practical, costed plans to tackle this issue - with requirements on water companies to significantly reduce storm overflows and clean up pollution as well as new powers for the government to direct underperforming companies.
This is a serious, sensible, deliverable plan from those who take these issues seriously - in contrast to those who are just interested in playing politics on social media.
