Tory environmentalists said the Government needed to do more to tackle the sewage crisis, with the Conservative Environment Network warning the Government needs a “strong environmental offer to impress voters” ahead of the local elections.
The CEN’s senior nature programme manager Kitty Thompson told i: “Increasing our natural environment’s capacity to absorb and retain rainfall, rather than letting it flow into the pipe network, will be critical to reducing our use of storm overflows.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who has been using the issue of sewage pollution for the party’s local election campaigning, said the issue would hit the Government in the 2 May local authority polls.
“Rishi Sunak and Conservative MPs are facing a sewage backlash after years of blocking tough measures to crack down on water firms,” he said. “The water industry needs to be ripped up from top to bottom, to stop profits and shareholders’ dividends driving everything. It is time to start again.