French politicians from Macron's party blast UK for dumping sewage in the channel

25 August 2022, 15:46 | Updated: 25 August 2022, 15:58

Three French politicians have lashed out at the UK for allowing sewage to flow into the channel.

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have argued in an open letter published online that Britain is putting the environment, public health and fishermen's livelihoods at risk.

Pierre Karleskind, Nathalie Loiseau and Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, all members of President Emmanuel Macron's En Marche party who signed the letter, also argued the UK has neglected its environmental commitments since leaving the EU.

A UK government spokesperson said the claim was "simply not true".

It comes after 22 beaches across the UK were slapped with 'do not swim' orders last week after sewage discharged from rainwater overflows was feared to have polluted the waters.

There has been growing public outrage in recent years at the volume of raw or partially treated sewage pumped into the UK's rivers and coastal waters.

British water companies have said they are investing in solving the problem.

Sewage pumped into the sea near Langstone Harbour in Hampshire

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Ms Yon-Courtin, a member of the EU's committee on fisheries, said: "We can't tolerate that the environment, the economic activity of our fishermen and the health of our citizens are put in danger due to the repeated negligence of the UK in its management of its wastewater.

"The channel and the North Sea are not dumping grounds."

Nathalie Loiseau, President of the Delegation to the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly EU/UK, said: "The violation of the principle of non-regression of the levels of environmental protection provided for in the trade agreement with the United Kingdom must call for a response from the Commission."

Pierre Karleskind, Chairman of the fisheries of the European Parliament, said: "We cannot accept that the United Kingdom sits down on its environmental commitments made at the time of Brexit and calls into question the efforts that have been made by Europeans over the past twenty years."

It comes as campaigners today warned of an increased risk of sewage pollution on coastlines ahead of the bank holiday weekend as they called on the government to have greater ambition to conserve rivers and seas.

Data from campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) shows 654 alerts of sewer overflows spilling sewage into bathing waters this summer, from 171 locations in England and Wales.

Stanley Johnson links Brexit and raw sewage

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Last week, as heavy rain falling after weeks of dry weather overwhelmed the sewage system, there were 100 alerts for pollution, the data shows, with the south west and south coast of England worst hit.

With rain forecast again for parts of England in the next day or so, SAS chief executive Hugo Tagholm said: "We wouldn't be surprised if we saw more pollution events along the south coast where there's rainfall."

He said it did not take exceptionally heavy rainfall for raw sewage to be flushed out in storm overflows, and urged people to check the SAS Safer Seas and Rivers Service app which gives real time alerts of pollution incidents.

With the app, he said: "People are forewarned, they can make a decision to go somewhere that's not affected, to have a good time at the beach."

Data from the app shows the most affected areas this summer have been Longrock, Cornwall and Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast with 19 warnings each, followed by Cowes on the Isle of Wight with 16, and Spittal, Northumberland and Walney Biggar Bank in Cumbria, with 14 each.

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