Speech by , Shadow Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Conference, it’s wonderful to meet again.
In my role I’ve been up and down this country. I am proud of
Britain, proud of what we can achieve together, and proud of the
hard graft of working people.
That pride stands in stark contrast to a government showing utter
contempt for our great nation.
Allowing over a million sewage spills over the last six years;
one every two-and-a-half minutes: every one sanctioned by Tory
MPs who blocked changes for tougher action.
How could any government that loves this country allow this abuse
of our open spaces, rivers and sea?
Conference, their new leader claims she is “Trusted to deliver”
but they're the same old Tories. Friends, we know you don’t trust
a Tory by their words, but their record!
Just one example; during Truss’s time as Environment Secretary;
she signed off £24 million pounds of funding cuts for
environmental protection, including monitoring sewage discharges.
Every one of those sewage spills goes right to her door and their
plan sees it continuing until at least 2035.
If only was as angry about raw human sewage polluting our
country as she is about importing French cheese into it!
Conference, Labour will clean up the water industry.
Being a custodian of water and the environment will be a duty
again. The institutions intended to hold them accountable are
weakened and toothless as water bosses laugh all the way to the
bank.
A Labour government will:
· Deliver
mandatory monitoring of all sewage outlets
· Give the
Environment Agency the power and resources to properly enforce
the rules
·
Introduce a legally binding target to end 90% of sewage
discharges by 2030
·
Introduce automatic fines for discharges, and a standing
charge penalty for discharge points without monitoring in
place
· Ensure
any failure to improve is paid for by eroding dividends, not
added to customer bills, or hitting vital investment in the
system
· Water
bosses that routinely and systematically break the rules will be
held professionally and personally accountable, by striking off
company directors and ensuring illegal activity is
punished.
Conference, I said Labour will clean up the water industry, and I
meant it.
Our plan for change does not stop there. It’s not enough to
halt the surge of pollution, Labour’s ambition will breathe life
back into our countryside and coastal communities; areas long
abandoned by the Tories.
In 1951, Labour created the first National Park in the Peak
District. From 1997, Labour delivered ‘right to roam’. The next
Labour Government will bring the protections and opportunities
afforded to our national parks, to our coastal areas. Bringing
nature and the environment to every community, across our town
and cities, embracing unloved spaces, the canal networks and
green routes. Conference, much more will come on this.
We will meet our responsibility to hand the country we inherit to
the next generation in a better condition than we began with. We
will realise the right for everyone to have a rich, fulfilled and
healthy life with nature and a decent environment at its
heart.
In every aspect of DEFRA; nature, the environment, animal
welfare, farming, fishing and everything else, there is work to
do.
To deliver on our plan we need your help to get Labour into
power. Let’s get to every single constituency, every community
and every household, let’s show them the Tories record and then
show them Labour’s plan.
Conference we are closer to power than at any time in the last
decade, with as our next Prime Minister, we
will deliver the fresh start the country needs.
Let’s go and make it happen.
