Waterborne diseases have “put over 10,000 people in hospital” since 2019, Labour said, as both Sir Keir Starmer’s party and the Liberal Democrats ramped up attacks on the “Conservative sewage scandal”.
Labour reiterated its pledge to put water companies dumping sewage into UK rivers and seas under special measures to force them to “clean up their act”.
The party highlighted new analysis of NHS hospital admissions data showing the number of people diagnosed with diseases transmitted via waterborne infection nearly doubled over the last two years, rising to a record high of 3,261 cases last year.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Waterborne diseases have “put over 10,000 people in hospital” since 2019, Labour said, as both Sir Keir Starmer’s party and the Liberal Democrats ramped up attacks on the “Conservative sewage scandal”.
“They just folded their arms and looked the other way while water companies pumped a tidal wave of raw sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas, putting the nation’s health at risk.
“We will give the regulator tough new powers to make law-breaking water bosses face criminal charges and ban the payment of their multimillion pound bonuses until they clean up their toxic filth.”
Environmental activist Feargal Sharkey, who is backing Labour’s plans, told the PA news agency that “people are utterly fed up, outraged and despondent about the state of rivers and seas”, with parents worried about taking their children to the beach this summer.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems set out a plan to save chalk streams, which the party’s analysis suggested suffered nearly 49,000 hours worth of sewage dumping in 2023 – more than double the previous year.
Sir Ed Davey’s party repeated its proposal to launch a public consultation within the first 100 days of the next government which could see rivers and lakes awarded a new Blue Flag status to protect them from sewage dumping.
The original article contains 691 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!