Liz Truss presided over “efficiency savings” during her time as Environment Secretary that significantly slashed funding for the Environment Agency and resulted in “doubled sewage discharge”, Labour has claimed.
The claims come as a viral report has looked into the background of the sewage crisis.
Labour Party analysis of official figures shows that since 2016, when the Tory leadership hopeful was in charge of Defra – raw sewage discharge more than doubled from 14.7 per overflow in 2016 to 29.3 in 2021.
This coincided with her cutting £80m of sewage monitors as part of a £235m Tory axe to the Environment Agency’s budget, which she branded “efficiency savings”.
Blame
But who is to blame the water companies, the government, or Brexit?
Maybe a bit of all of them?
According to Feargal Sharkey it is at least in some part due to leaving the EU.
Now a video from BylineTV has also linked the crisis to Brexit.
This appears to back up a report from Full Fact that says: “So Brexit has been at least cited as a factor which might allow water companies to increase how much sewage they discharge.”
Watch
In response to the video Marina Purkiss wrote: “Well, well, well, Have a watch of this… Govt voted to relax laws on letting water firms pump sewage into our waters Why? Because water firms could no longer get the chemicals needed to treat the water Why? …BREXIT.”
However, the video has been called out by a professor of economics of climate, energy, environment.
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Related: Rachel and Stanley Johnson blame Boris Johnson for sewage shame – This pic sums it up