A Brighton MP slated a government minister over water quality and sewage discharges during a debate in the House of Commons yesterday (Tuesday 25 April).
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said that Therese Coffey, the Conservative Environment Secretary, was shockingly complacent.
The opposition day debate was opened by Labour MP Jim McMahon, the Shadow Environment Secretary.
He called on the government to set a target for a reduction in sewage discharges and for water companies to be fined for discharging sewage and for breaching monitoring requirements.
Dr Coffey said: “Frankly, we should be having a grown-up debate about the issue. A lot of the plan set out by the shadow Secretary of State is pointless because it is already being done.
“I guess the honourable gentleman has taken up growing magic mushrooms. The opposition did not publish the data, they were not monitoring it, they kept people in the dark and they fed them BS for all the time they were in government.”
Caroline Lucas intervened, saying: “The complacency that the Secretary of State is displaying is frankly shocking.
“Not one English river is classed as being in a healthy condition, none meet good chemical standards and few meet good ecological standards.
“The Conservatives have been in power for 13 years. That is a record of failure.
“In addition, dividends now average £1.6 billion a year, which is money going out of the system altogether.
“Why will she not accept that privatisation has been a complete failure, put water back into public hands and make sure the investment goes where it is needed?”
Dr Coffey said: “The honourable lady should be aware that during the last decade we put in place legislation that made it tougher to meet ecological status.
“That includes taking on the monitoring of certain chemicals, which is not done by the Welsh or Scottish governments.
“That is why we will continue to work on this issue in a specific way. We are leaning into the issue.
“I genuinely wish that Labour had started to sort out the issues when in office. “I am not saying that the Labour government did completely nothing but they were certainly not clear with the public about what was going on.
“In 2010, we knew there was no money left after Labour’s damage to the public purse. Indeed, the former Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury was honest enough to tell us that in his own writing.
“What we did not know was quite how much mess was left behind for a Conservative government to clean up yet again, which is what we set about doing.”
Coffey’s complacency is shocking. Govt’s been in power 13 years – not 1 English river is in healthy condition & not 1 meets good chemical standards. Privatisation has failed – put water back in public hands so investment goes where needed #SewageScandal @Feargal_Sharkey @We_OwnIt pic.twitter.com/0LFb64IDEZ
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) April 25, 2023
Southern Water said that it was spending £2 billion over the five years to 2025. This included more than £80 million to reduce the number of pollution incidents and more than £500 million to improve bathing water quality and rivers.
