The government is pursuing its by now familiar strategy of ramming through hideous legislation on very short timescales with no time for scrutiny. Why else did the government publish its plans late on Friday? In the hope that we would have no time to analyse or react. BIG MISTAKE.
Feargal Sharkey posted this today, alerting us all to the return of Sewagegate:
YOU HAVE JUST 48 HOURS TO SAVE YOUR LOCAL RIVER.
On Monday Gov will vote to legalise the wholesale dumping of sewage into our rives.
Just as MPs were mislead over the cost of fixing sewage overflows, #SewageScandal environment groups have now also been mislead.
Today Gov has published its plan to once and for all overturn the HoLs amendments and give water companies a duty to “Secure a progressive reduction”, in sewage dumping.
That will allow water companies to now legally dump sewage in to rivers on a scale that currently is illegal
It’s a scam, it’s a sham and it’s a disgrace.
Act now. Write to you MP today and demand that they support the House of Lords amendment.
https://www.mysociety.org/wehelpyou/who-is-your-mp/
@stephenfry @GaryLineker @DeborahMeaden @MarcusRashford @ChrisGPackham
Originally tweeted by Feargal Sharkey (@Feargal_Sharkey) on 06/11/2021.
Here’s a quick video that explains why the latest amendment is so bad:
And here is the text of a letter written by lawyer Jeremy Asher to Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton.
You can use the information it contains in your own.
“I have now read the Government’s proposed amendments to the Environment Bill. They fall way below what is required and I urge you to vote instead for the House of Lords’ amendments.
For example, if a water company can state that it has reduced raw sewage pollution outfall by 1/1,000th a year then it will have complied with the regulations.
That is an appalling prospect but one that is a very real possibility under the Government’s amendments.
Nothing short of acceptance of the House of Lords amendments will do.
On our tour of Twitter I have introduced you to academics and water industry professionals who have explained how the sewage system operates, how it can be affordably improved; the environmental benefits of doing so are undeniable.
From a political point of view, given the Owen Paterson debacle, you cannot afford to be seen to support such limp-wristed legislation and a privatised water industry that puts profits, dividends and shareholders ahead of public health and the environment.
You misjudged the public mood last week. Supporting the House of Lords amendments is an opportunity for you to rebuild some credibility.”
Finally, remember those weasly responses to those called out for voting to let water companies continue their disgusting practices? Remember Rebecca Pow and her unfeasibly high figures for the cost of putting things right?
Surprise, surprise: those numbers were a fiction…
We are being lied to, tricked, cheated and conned. Act now to show you won’t put up with this sh*t anymore.
