Waterways are like open sewers, warns Starmer

The environment secretary Therese Coffey has faced calls to resign over the amount of sewage water companies have discharged into UK waterways, as opposition parties hit out at the government.

- DANNY HALPIN

Labour accused the government of "turning Britain's waterways into an open sewer", as figures published by the Environment Agency (EA) showed 301,091 spills in 2022 in England - an average of 824 per day.

This is a 19 per cent decrease from the previous year - but John Leyland, the EA's executive director said this was "down to dry weather, not water company action".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told The Guardian that the dumping of sewage was "ruining so many areas of our country and the Conservatives are sitting on their hands, with no response to it". He told the paper that Labour would take "real action" to tackle the issue, including automatic fines for sewage dumped by companies.