Election hopefuls explain plans for water

POLLUTION POLICIES TO THE FORE AT SURFERS AGAINST SEWAGE HUSTINGS

- ALISON STEPHENSON

PARLIAMENTARY candidates for Plymouth’s constituencies and South West Devon have been setting out how they and their parties would improve water quality across the city and beyond, at a hustings hosted by Surfers Against Sewage.

Plymouth was the penultimate date in the Election Hustings Road Trip by the campaigning charity, which highlighted Plymouth Hoe’s Tinside beach as the fifth most polluted sea-bathing site in England and Wales, because of the number of sewage discharges by South West Water.

The panel for the event at The Box was Sarah Allen (Labour, a candidate in South West Devon), Holly Greenberry-Pullen (Liberal Democrat, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport), Peter Gold (Reform UK, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport), Guy Haywood (Workers Party, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport), Lauren McLay (Green, South West Devon), and Gareth Streeter (Conservative, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport).

Whilst both Conservatives and Labour are not in favour of nationalising water companies, the Green Party and the Workers Party are, with the Lib Dems saying that public benefit companies should be in charge. Reform UK says water should be managed as a private organisation, but 50% owned by the Government and 50% by British pension funds.

Ms Allen said nationalising water companies would costs tens of billions of pounds, and further reimburse shareholders. She said the party would fund increased scrutiny by introducing windfall taxes on oil and gas firms.

Labour would put the water companies under special measures, force them to clean up their mess and protect people’s health. They would give water regulator Ofwat the power to block the payment of bonuses until they had cleaned up the sewage. She said Labour had made a mistake in allowing water companies to be self-monitoring when it was in power, and panellists agreed they should not be “allowed to mark their own homework”.