More was done tackle river pollution by the Conservative government than they get credit for, an ex-environment minister has said.
Former MP Rebecca Pow – who lost her Somerset seat to the Liberal Democrats – said Tories should have pushed their environmental credentials more in the election, including on monitoring river pollution.
Failing to do so, she argued, meant the party lost votes to the Lib Dems in rural seats and gives Labour free reign to take the credit in Government.
Ms Pow, the former MP for Taunton Dean, served as a junior minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) from 2019 to 2024.
Writing for i, Ms Pow said her party “took major steps to tackle the chronic problem of sewage pollution” when in office.
She said it should have put more emphasis on this record and challenged the current Tory leadership candidates to “recommit to the environment” in their campaign.
A source close to Ms Pow said she was frustrated that the fight was not taken to the Lib Dems on this issue during the election campaign and instead allowed the party to continually attack the government’s record on this.
“I’m proud of what we achieved at Defra, but am frustrated that as a party we failed to trumpet our record,” Pow wrote.
She went on: “Contrary to what other parties have said, we took major steps to tackle the chronic problem of sewage pollution.
“Thanks to Conservative ministers, 100 per cent of England’s storm overflows are now fitted with monitors, meaning we know the scale of the issue, and water firms are mandated to invest £60bn in upgrading the sewerage system.
“We also lifted the cap on fines for water companies for illegal pollution incidents and ring-fenced the funds for water quality projects.”
She said the party “could and should have done more”, but argued: “We did do more than any government previously to tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss and pollution.”
But she said she was “disappointed with my own party” because it “undervalued and undersold the electoral asset that is our record on the environment” which left Labour able to “claim our victories as their own”.
Ms Pow argued this approach had lost the Conservatives voters in the so-called Blue Wall seats in the South West.
In the Labour Government’s first King’s Speech, it promised to introduce a Water Bill which it said would improve water quality by putting failing water companies under tough special measures.
Ms Pow said this was an imitation of what the Tory government had done in office.
“They are increasing monitoring of overflows, limiting water exec bonuses, and boosting fines – all policies we set in train,” she wrote.
“It took years of hard work across multiple Conservative governments to build up our genuinely strong record on nature and climate change.
“I therefore challenge all aspiring Conservative leaders to recommit to the environment, take the fight to the Lib Dems and Labour on our natural home turf, and pledge to build on our achievements in government.”
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem environment spokesperson, accused the Tory government of having “turned a blind eye to water companies pumping and polluting filth into our waterways”.
“It was all talk and no action from the previous government when it came to the sewage crisis.
Conservative MPs voted time and time again against taking proper action against the big water firms,” he said.
“The public saw through their lies and saw that the Liberal Democrats had a clear plan to tackle the sewage scandal.”
i has called on the the Government to sign up to a five-point manifesto to Save Britain’s Rivers from sewage and other forms of pollution, which has been endorsed by over 20 leading environmental groups.
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