Stephen Morgan MP has called for money government receives from water company fines to be ‘ringfenced’ to tackle sewage pollution in Portsmouth.
Raising concerns with the new Environment Secretary in Parliament this week, the City MP has suggested that rather than fines going back into the central coffers of HM Treasury, the money could be used to invest in long-term environmental infrastructure and increasing monitoring of the local bathing waters to improve water quality.
The Portsmouth South representative has also called on Government to be more transparent over the collection and use of fines after failing to get straight answers in Parliament and to make sure Ministers hold water companies to account for sewage pollution.
Southern Water was fined a record £90 million for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into our region’s seas, after the company pleaded guilty in the courts.
It comes after Labour analysis of government figures has shown that raw sewage discharge more than doubled from 14.7 per overflow in 2016 to 29.3 in 2021.
The spike in sewage pollution coincided with Liz Truss, who led the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) at the time, cutting £80m of sewage monitors as part of a £235m Tory axe to the EA budget, which she branded “efficiency savings”.
Despite this, the EA has brought 54 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of over £139 million. This includes, following an EA investigation, Southern Water (SW) being fined a record £90 million last year after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage.
Mr Morgan recently met with the Environment Agency to raise the ongoing concerns of local people over the impact of sewage discharge to our city’s precious natural environment, and wider environmental issues affecting Portsmouth.
Following the recent meeting and lobbying the new Environment Secretary, the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan MP, said:
“After years of damage to our precious local environment, constituents have a right to know how the record-breaking £90m Southern Water fine is being used by government.
“I’m clear that this money should not be going to the Treasury, but reinvested to protect our environment, build infrastructure for the future and finally end sewage pollution.
“The fact that Liz Truss was the one to cut the EA so severely, not only demonstrates her lack of foresight but also her lack of care for the detail, in recognising the need to adapt to the serious flooding that had just happened on her watch.
“I will continue to hold this government to account as Portsmouth’s precious environment pays the price for Ministers’ negligence.”
Mr Morgan has questioned the EA and ministers and commissioned research to clarify how much of SW’s £90m fine has been paid and how the funds will be used by government. However, he has not been able to secure a definitive answer to date. The MP has vowed to continue to campaign on this concern for local people.
