𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour is accused of “dilly-dallying” and moving at a speed slower than a sloth when it comes to tackling the crisis of sewage-poisoned waters and ensuring the sector is fit for the future. The Government failed to deliver long-awaited plans for reform of the water sector by Christmas and is now under fire for not treating “public health crisis” as a priority.

Giles Bristow, the chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “This Government promised to take decisive action to clean up our seas, beaches and rivers. But so far it’s a story of delays, half-hearted attempts at policy change and deferring to the needs of greedy polluters and their owners. We need a full system reset of the water sector that ends profit from pollution.”

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said in November she hoped that a White Paper setting out Labour’s plans would be published “before Christmas” but campaigners are still waiting.

Mr Bristow said: “Whilst Defra dilly-dallies on delivering a long-awaited report on the future of our broken water sector, sewage is still pouring into our seas, and people are getting sick.”

Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “Cleaning up water was one of Labour’s big election promises. We now learn that it’s so low a priority, even Defra ministers don’t know when their own Water White Paper is due to be released.

“A pattern is emerging of Defra delays and shambles. They delayed publishing their report on farming profitability because it contains some cold, hard truths about their farming policies. They then snuck out their family farm tax fiasco u-turn two days before Christmas to avoid parliamentary scrutiny…

“A sloth has more energy and speed than this Government.”

James Wallace, the chief executive of River Action, also pressed for movement from ministers.

He said: “This must be the year the Government finally acts on Britain’s freshwater crisis. Every river in England is polluted, and the biggest offenders remain the water companies, which since privatisation have failed to fix crumbling infrastructure while paying out billions in dividends.

“What’s talked about far less is agricultural pollution, driven in part by sewage sludge spread on farmland. Water companies are paid by industry to take and treat toxic waste, yet they fail to remove ‘forever chemicals’ before passing the sludge on to farmers, where it washes into rivers and groundwater.

“The upcoming White Paper on reforming the water sector must make the polluter pay and enforce the law properly.”

Surfers Against Sewage’s Mr Bristow shared these concerns, saying: “Cosying up to water bosses and flinging out a few limp policies won’t change things… Sewage pollution is a public health crisis, and it must be treated this way.”

A Labour spokesperson said in response: “Where the Tories lacked the conviction to act, this Labour Government is cleaning up their mess. We’ve blocked unfair bonuses for polluting water bosses, secured £104billion to fix broken infrastructure, and committed to building nine new reservoirs, bringing water to three quarter of a million homes and unlocking jobs and growth nationwide.

“Our Water White Paper will soon set out the systemic reforms needed to clean up our water for good. We would welcome an apology from any Tory MP for the Tory sewage scandal that left our rivers, lakes, and seas awash with record pollution and put over 10,000 people in hospital with waterborne diseases.”