Labour to force a vote on Water Quality Bill that will end the ‘Tory Sewage Scandal’
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Labour will today [Tuesday] force a binding vote in the House
Commons to introduce its Water Quality (Sewage Discharge)
Bill to end the Tory sewage scandal. Labour will use an
Opposition Day motion to provide parliamentary time on
Tuesday, 2 May 2023 for the Water Quality (Sewage Discharge) Bill,
introduced by Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, Jim McMahon,
to be debated and voted on. Labour’s intervention comes in the
absence of a...Request free trial
Labour will today [Tuesday] force a binding vote in the House Commons to introduce its Water Quality (Sewage Discharge) Bill to end the Tory sewage scandal. Labour will use an Opposition Day motion to provide parliamentary time on Tuesday, 2 May 2023 for the Water Quality (Sewage Discharge) Bill, introduced by Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, Jim McMahon, to be debated and voted on. Labour’s intervention comes in the absence of a government plan to end sewage dumping, and seeks to force the Conservatives to allow parliamentary time for its passage, affording Tory MPs another opportunity to vote to end sewage dumping. Previously the majority of Conservative MPs voted down Labour-backed measures to end sewage dumping during the passage of the Environment Bill. Labour’s Water Quality (Sewage Discharge) Bill is the party’s plan to end the Tory sewage scandal by 2030. It seeks to legally underpin four crucial reduction measures:
Labour’s analysis of Environment Agency data has revealed that since 2016, a new sewage dumping event has taken place an average of every two-and-a-half minutes, with rivers, lakes, seas, and beaches having faced a staggering 1,276 years’ worth of raw sewage over just a seven-year period. The sewage dumping statistics and the news of the Bill come as Secretary of State Thérèse Coffey continues to face significant pressure after a troubled start to her new role, having broken the Government’s own statutory deadline for publishing water quality targets; announced a 36-year delay to cleaning-up waterways; told Parliament that meeting polluting water bosses wasn’t her priority and been heavily criticised for announcing a storm overflow reduction plan containing no reduction measures. Last September, during Labour Party Conference, Jim McMahon announced future reforms that a Labour government would implement to force water companies to clean up their act and progressively end sewage dumping and the culture of water companies treating our natural environment as an open sewer. Jim McMahon MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, said: “It is clear that we have a Tory government that has run out of ideas, only regurgitating old announcements that do nothing to end sewage dumping. That is why Labour has brought forward legislation to clean up our water system. “Today, Tory MPs have an opportunity to support Labour’s Water Quality Bill which will put an end to sewage dumping once and for all. Their constituents will be watching to see if they will put the best interests of our country before their party. “The next Labour Government will build a better Britain and end the Tory sewage scandal, delivering mandatory monitoring on all sewage outlets, introducing automatic fines for discharges, setting ambitious targets for stopping systematic sewage dumping and ensuring that water bosses are held to account for negligence.” Ends Notes:
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/mps-environment-bill-dump-sewage-b1944968.html
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