LIB DEM MP MANUELA PERTEGHELLA DEMANDS BURNHAM OVERHAULS BROKEN WATER INDUSTRY AS STRATFORD-ON-AVON SEES 5,202 HOURS OF SPILLS IN WATERWAYS

It follows new analysis of data revealing the devastating scale of environmental damage in Stratford on Avon, where Severn Trent dumped sewage into local waterways for a staggering 5,202 hours last year across 661 separate spills.

Manuela is campaigning for significant improvements to rivers Avon, Arrow, Alne, Stour and Dene and their tributaries. 

Following years of environmental vandalism and financial mismanagement by water firms, the Liberal Democrats are calling on the new administration to abandon the failed privatisation model and hand water infrastructure back to the public via a customer-owned mutual model.

Liberal Democrat MP Manuela Perteghella said:

"For years, people across my constituency have watched in anger as our rivers have been pumped full of filthy sewage, all while foreign asset managers and corporate executives pocket billions.

"It is an absolute insult to local families that Severn Trent is reporting profits while our local environment is routinely trashed and our water bills continue to rise.

"Andy Burnham has a clear choice in his first weeks in Number 10: stand up for communities like ours in Stratford on Avon, or let the same broken, polluting system continue. 

“We need a clean break from the failed privatisation experiment - wiping the slate clean of vulture capital debt and handing our water infrastructure back to the people who actually use and rely on it."

Manuela and the Liberal Democrats are calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to:

• Put Thames Water into special administration immediately, permanently restructuring the company as a mutual run for the benefit of its customers.
• Transition all existing water companies into public-benefit mutuals, owned by the people rather than the state, ensuring they are run for public health and the environment instead of private profit.
• Abolish the toothless regulator Ofwat and replace it with a powerful new Clean Water Authority with statutory powers to enforce strict environmental standards and crack down on repeat offenders in Stratford-on-Avon and across the country.
• End the Great Sewage Cover-Up by forcing water companies to report the volume, not just the duration, of sewage spills.
• Implement an immediate, legally binding ban on all water company executive bonuses, free from loopholes.
• Ensure full accountability by recusing Number 10 advisor James Purnell from any involvement in decisions regarding Thames Water, given his previous work for a firm advising private utilities and major investors.