Labour MP Jon Ashworth looks on in horror at Damian Green's story.
A Tory MP has sparked a furious row after claiming he regularly swam in sewage as a child.
Damian Green was accused of “normalising” the problem which is affecting rivers across the UK.
Environment secretary Therese Coffey has faced calls to resign after sewage was dumped in waterways more than 300,000 times last year.
Appearing on ITV’s Peston last night, Green - who was Theresa May’s de facto deputy when she was prime minister - said he had first-hand experience of the issue.
He said: “I’m absolutely not denying that it is a big issue, but it always has been.
“I remember as a child in south Wales in sewage. Jackson’s Bay in Barry used to be a sewage outlet where we all went and paddled and swam and it was sort of regarded as acceptable - of course it wasn’t.”
"I remember as a child in South Wales swimming in sewage"
Conservative MP @DamianGreen says water pollution from sewage dumping has always been an issue, but it used to be perceived as more acceptable #Pestonpic.twitter.com/386v3pltuJ
— Peston (@itvpeston)
May 17, 2023Reacting to his comments, Labour shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: “Damian’s government has been in power for 13 years and his constituents suffered 570 sewage dumps last year.
“He shouldn’t be normalising it. When this is the response, no wonder the Tory sewage scandal is as bad as it is.”
One Twitter user said: “I’m not sure ‘I used to swim in shit, so you should happily swim in shit’, is the winning argument that Damian Green thinks it is.”
Others pointed out that Green’s experience would have happened before the UK joined the European Economic Community, which eventually became the EU.
I was born a few years after Damian and grew up in Porthcawl and yes we swam with sewage until it was cleaned up after we joined Europe! Ask any of the older surfers down there to confirm we had 4 decades of no sewage and oil spills only to see Brexit bring them back.
— Liz Webster (@LizWebsterSBF)
May 18, 2023Meanwhile, celebrity scientist Brian Cox mocked the Tory MP with a deeply sarcastic tweet.
You were lucky. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would… https://t.co/JmyVHjvpGx
— Brian Cox (@ProfBrianCox)
May 18, 2023The row came as water companies vowed to spend billions on the sewage problem - funded through increased bills.
Related...
- Water Firms Are Being Called Out For Upping Bills To Fix Their Sewage Spills
- Nick Ferrari Tells Question Time That Water Bosses Who Pump Sewage Into Rivers Should Be Jailed
- Tory MPs Have Voted Down Labour's Bid To Stop Sewage Being Pumped Into Rivers
Tory MP Claims He Swam In Sewage As A Kid And The Outrage Is Off The Charts
5
22
18.05.2023
Labour MP Jon Ashworth looks on in horror at Damian Green's story.
A Tory MP has sparked a furious row after claiming he regularly swam in sewage as a child.
Damian Green was accused of “normalising” the problem which is affecting rivers across the UK.
Environment secretary Therese Coffey has faced calls to resign after sewage was dumped in waterways more than 300,000 times last year.
Appearing on ITV’s Peston last night, Green - who was Theresa May’s de facto deputy when she was prime minister - said he had first-hand experience of the issue.
He said: “I’m absolutely not denying that it is a big issue, but it always has been.
“I remember as a child in south Wales in sewage. Jackson’s Bay in Barry used to be a........
© HuffPost
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Andrew Mitrovica
Belen Fernandez
Marwan Bishara
Timotej Milanov
Tafi Mhaka
Grant Arthur Gochin
Ahmadi Ali
