Pippa speaks out in Parliament on the sewage scandal

Watch the video below of Pippa speaking during the debate on the sewage scandal, held in the House of Commons on 23rd April, or read her speech below.

Access to healthy, clean rivers and streams is a right, not a privilege. Our waterways should be safe for swimming, punting and rowing, rich in biodiversity and protected for future generations. But after years of neglect under the previous Conservative government, our rivers and chalk streams have been polluted on a shocking scale. If clean water is a right, then that right has been utterly trampled on. Communities like mine in South Cambridgeshire feel betrayed. Polluters are allowed to profit, all whilst continuing to dump sewage - overseen by a weak regulator and a negligent Tory government.

The scale of sewage dumping at the national level is frankly staggering - and what is worse is that, despite the public outrage and nationwide campaigns, sewage dumping in 2024 is up from the year before. According to the Rivers Trust, not a single river in England or Northern Ireland meets the standard for ‘good overall’ health. Not one. That is a national disgrace.

I paid tribute in my maiden speech in this House to the precious chalk streams that run through my constituency of South Cambridgeshire. I have campaigned hard for many years for better chalk stream protection alongside Cam Valley Forum and our local river action groups for the Mel, the Granta, the Shep, the Wilbrahams, Orwell and Cherry Hinton Brook.

In South Cambridgeshire alone, rivers and streams were polluted by sewage 728 times in 2024, lasting over 9,700 hours. That’s more than a year’s worth of continuous pollution.

Our chalk streams are unique and globally significant, home to otters, water vole, kingfishers, rare flowers and crustacea, like the crayfish - extraordinary wildlife now under threat. The same water that feeds these chalk streams is the same source that supplies over 350,000 customers in the water company’s region. They are struggling with over-abstraction for clean water supply for new and existing communities, exacerbating the damage to delicate ecosystems struggling to survive.

We know about the status of the water and the wildlife as a result of the huge efforts of those local volunteers and citizen scientists. Water testing groups go out regularly; they report on spills and they spend weekends doing restoration work to get the water clean and running for the trout and wildlife. Yet they shouldn’t be left to do the heavy lifting on their own on each of the streams. That is why I applaud the Greater Cambridge Chalk Stream Project which seeks to work at a water catchment level to support the streams. However, greater protection of the streams is needed. Without this, nature is losing out and constituents are in despair. We can see the frustration of the Barrington Waste Water Plant Action Group which is taking out a legal injunction against Anglian Water for continuing to spill sewage into the river. 

Volunteers can’t do it alone. They need support. It is truly distressing for all who care to hear the Secretary of State’s abandonment of the Chalk Stream Recovery Pack announced in 2023. We need the government to think again. We also need smart, practical tools - like introducing Blue Flag status for inland waterways. This internationally recognised scheme already works for beaches, giving the public confidence in water quality. Extending it to rivers would mean regular water testing, biodiversity checks, and better community involvement. It would boost transparency and give people the power to hold polluters to account.

Holding people to account means overhauling the regulator because just when it seems things couldn’t get worse - when pollution goes unpunished - we find out that in 2023–24, water company bosses raked in over £20 million in salaries, bonuses, and pensions. It’s a scandal, and it is not the fair deal the Liberal Democrats are fighting for.

Last year, the Environment Agency recorded 513,000 sewage spills. Yet Ofwat - our so-called regulator - has not issued a single fine since 2019. How can that possibly be acceptable? This failure to act has consequences. It deepens public mistrust and it tells polluters they can carry on as they please.

It is clear: Ofwat has failed. It has allowed massive profits, ignored crumbling infrastructure, and shown no ambition to protect water quality. That’s why the Liberal Democrats would scrap it and create the Clean Water Authority. A new regulator with real powers to improve river health, set ambitious environmental goals, enforce clean water rules and ensure fair pricing for consumers.

M Speaker, The Conservative record is damning. They voted over 1,600 times against tougher action on sewage. They rejected all 44 Liberal Democrat amendments to strengthen the Water Bill, including protections for chalk streams. 

And now, while Labour holds the reins, it too must do better. It has yet to act on its own Water Commission’s recommendations. And the latest version of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill missed a vital opportunity to recognise chalk streams as irreplaceable habitats - something we will be fighting to amend.

The Liberal Democrats are leading the fight against the sewage scandal. We’re standing up for nature, for our rivers, for our chalk streams and for every single person who deserves clean water.