Steve Reed, Labour’s environment secretary, met with the water companies last week to demand that they clean up their act – but too many of them are already breaking the law with their illegal, increasingly frequent releases of raw sewage into our streams, rivers and seas. It’s undeniable that the existing laws aren’t adequate, and stern words to the polluters won’t fix things.
The Environment Agency is so overstretched after fourteen years of Conservative spending cuts that it cannot protect our rivers against such flagrant lawbreaking. I’m calling for the government to restore the budget of the Environment Agency and put it on the front foot with powers to enforce the rules to ensure that polluters pay, not the people or planet.
A landmark Supreme Court ruling last week opened the door for people to sue the water companies for these illegal discharges, reversing the industry’s idea that they can pollute our rivers with legal impunity.
What this means for the water companies, many of which are already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, remains to be seen. But it is crystal clear that the thirty year experiment of the privatised water system has been an abject failure.
Protect
The Labour government must be brave on this issue by bringing the water companies back into public ownership. This is the only sensible way to end shareholder payouts, fix the crumbling water infrastructure, and end this sewage scandal for good.
Farming has a huge positive role to play in addressing the climate and ecological emergencies, so it was a shame not to see any specific announcements on agriculture and land management.
The impact of agricultural pollution on a rural community such as my constituency in North Herefordshire is significant. It’s the major contributor to poor water quality in the countryside.
We need to support farmers to transition to more nature-friendly ways of farming – win-win-win approaches that produce good food, generate skilled jobs, and protect the environment.
Voices
Many farmers themselves are already leading the way with this – there are multiple award-winning regenerative farmers in my own constituency. The Sustainable Farming Incentive has been a step in the right direction, but more is needed.
The Labour government needs to commit to significantly increasing support for farmers to enable them to fulfil their potential in food production and nature protection in the UK.
Labour’s King’s Speech makes some positive first steps in the right direction, but there is much more to be done, and the urgency increases all the time.
Our four Green MPs will work constructively with the Labour government wherever we can – of course we will. And we will also do everything we can to push them to do better and be bolder on climate action and nature protection.
Our four Greens have each been elected to serve as leading voices for our communities, the natural world, and future generations.
This Author
Ellie Chowns is a British Green party MP. She previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands.
