Labour has called on the Environment Secretary to resign if her department is found to have broken the law through its regulation of sewage discharges, with Therese Coffey accusing the opposition party of doing “sweet FA” on the issue when in power.
Ms Coffey, who made the remark in the House of Commons, faced calls to tone down her language from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
The Environment Secretary was trading blows with Labour’s new shadow environment secretary Steve Reed, who said Ms Coffey should resign if her department broke the law, alleging a “Government-sanctioned green light to pollute”, claims she denies.
While Labour backbencher Barry Sheerman described Ms Coffey’s language as “vulgar” and called on her to resign.
The debate took place after the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) finding of having “identified possible failures to comply with environmental law” by the Government over combined sewer overflows (CSOs).
Frankly, the Labour government did sweet FA and we are cleaning it up now
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey
CSOs are only supposed to be used after periods of unusually heavy rain to prevent the system backing up and flooding people’s homes and businesses with sewage.
But the OEP has said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat may have misinterpreted the law and allowed water companies to pollute England’s waterways outside of these circumstances. It is now investigating further.
Mr Reed said: “Which ministers signed off what the OEP calls, and I quote, a ‘misinterpretation of the law’ to allow more frequent sewage discharges ‘without risk of sanction’?
“That is a Government-sanctioned green light to pollute. Was it her?”
He added: “Will she publish the correspondence between the OEP and her department if she has nothing to hide? And if her department is found to have broken the law, will she do the right thing and resign?”
She is out of her depth, she is incompetent, and she should resign immediately
Labour MP Barry Sheerman
Mr Reed said the Government “has broken the entire regulatory system” and “enabled this scandal”.
Ms Coffey told the Commons: “I have always been clear that the current volume of sewage discharge by water companies is totally unacceptable, and they must act urgently.”
Read More
She said the Government would comply with OEP requests for information about that matter, but added: “We do not agree with the OEP’s assessment of compliance with law.”
The Environment Secretary said her party had “taken more action than any other government on this issue” and had started requiring monitoring of storm overflows, which she said has revealed the extent of the sewage problem.
Ms Coffey said: “We have been repeatedly clear that water companies’ reliance on overflows is unacceptable.
“They must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority.
“And we are holding water companies to account.
“And that is also true of our regulators.”
Addressing Labour, she said: “The investigation all started, which led to that court case that’s referred to in the (OEP’s) information notice, under a Labour Government.”
She added: “Frankly, the Labour government did sweet FA and we are cleaning it up now.”
Labour MP Richard Burgon (Leeds East) could be heard saying: “That’s not Football Association.”
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay said: “Can we be more moderate in what language we use?
“I don’t think it was appropriate.”
Labour MP Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) said: “Isn’t it the truth that her pathetic performance today and her use of the most vulgar language I have heard in this chamber in all my years in this House, isn’t it true she is out of her depth, she is incompetent, and she should resign immediately?”
