Portsmouth MP Stephen Morgan welcomed Environment Secretary Steve Reed to Portsmouth as the Labour Government’s landmark bill to crack down on bosses polluting waterways in Portsmouth became law.
Commenting on the visit, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed OBE MP said:
“I’m delighted to join Stephen Morgan in Portsmouth to discuss the action our government is taking to clean up our waters and crack down on bosses who pollute by banning their bonuses and making them personally criminally liable.
“I know Stephen has been a determined campaigner to tackle sewage pollution in Portsmouth and backs the government’s landmark measures to end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses.
“I will continue to work with Stephen to protect Portsmouth’s natural environment so that local families can enjoy the superb seaside without having to worry about encountering filthy sewage.”
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“I have long campaigned for strong action to stop raw toxic sewage being pumped into Portsmouth waterways.
“That is why I was pleased to welcome the Environment Secretary to our city to discuss the immediate actions the Labour government is taking to end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses.
“Under this Labour Government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time.
“This Bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system.”
The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been granted Royal Assent and is now law and gives regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment and failing their customers.
The Bill delivers on the manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector, including significantly increasing the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against law-breaking water executives.
It creates new tougher penalties, including imprisonment, for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations.
The new legislation also bans the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company’s finances.
Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including allowing regulators to issue penalties more quickly, without having to direct resources to lengthy investigations.
It also introduces independent monitoring of every sewage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows.
Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.
The Labour Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.
You can read about Mr Morgan’s long track record campaigning to stop the sewage here: https://www.stephenmorgan.org.uk/backs-tough-plans-to-tackle-sewage/
