MP McMahon slams 'zombie Tory government' over Oldham sewage dumping figures

Local MP Jim McMahon is also Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has slammed the 'zombie Tory government' as being 'up to its neck in raw sewage' after the Labour Party discovered concerning new dumping figures.

Figures revealed by the Labour Party show that last year alone, the Conservatives allowed United Utilities to dump 2.6 months’ worth of raw sewage into Chadderton, Oldham and Royton’s natural environment.

Last year, 81.5 worth of raw sewage was dumped into Chadderton, Oldham and Royton’s rivers and lakes, the Labour Party insist.

The Rivers Trust Interactive Map, which displays constituency breakdowns of monitored storm overflows, shows that in 2021, raw sewage was discharged into Chadderton, Oldham and Royton’s natural environment for a duration of 1,957 hours.

This equates to there having been a continuous flow of sewage taking place for 2.6 months of the year, according to Labour Party analysis.

A fortnight ago, the Labour Party also found that that on average, water companies in England and Wales are pumping raw sewage into our natural environment every two-and-a-half minutes, with areas such as beaches, playing fields and bathing waters having faced 1,076 years-worth of raw sewage over a six-year period.

This comes amid revelations last week, that then prime ministerial hopeful Liz Truss was responsible for unleashing cuts of tens of millions of pounds to the Environment Agency, with Environment Agency data showing that the Conservatives presided over a doubling of water companies dumping raw sewage in subsequent years.

Specifically, during her time as Environment Secretary and as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Ms Truss reportedly failed to hold a single meeting with a water company to discuss their performance of sewage dumping and oversaw the slashing of Environment Agency grants, by a quarter, which was dedicated to monitoring of water companies and cutting pollution in our waters.

Local MP McMahon, who is also Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “Conservative MPs who are busy Tippexing over their voting records must explain to the country why they voted to allow the scenes of sewage dumping that we’re seeing on the news.

“Families across the country should be able to just enjoy where they live, work or holiday, without having to worrying about encountering filthy sewage as a result of water firms being allowed to cut corners.

“Britain deserves better than a zombie Tory government up to its neck in raw sewage.

"A Labour government will use the levers of power to hold reckless water bosses to account and toughen regulations to prevent them from gaming the system.”

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