"I'm furious" Lib Dem Charlie Murphy reacts to more sewage dumping
Lib Dem Charlie Murphy has spoken out about Southern Water's sewage discharge off Southsea beach last week.
Calling for the water industry to be stripped of shareholder profit incentives and run in the public interest, Charlie warned that "nothing meaningful will change" without deep structural reform.
Southern Water are failing us
Lib Dem Charlie Murphy
Charlie's intervention came after Southern Water started dumping sewage off the Southsea for nearly two hours following brief rainfall on Friday 21 August.
“I am furious. I was glad to see the rain on Friday. But like many people, I also worried what this would mean for Southsea beach.”
“Sure enough, within an hour, Southern Water had started dumping sewage. The rain was brief and light, but they were dumping for almost two hours. Southern Water are failing us.” Charlie said.
He is frustrated by the rising bills faced by customers while our environment continues to suffer. Charlie lays the blame at both water company bosses and the Labour government.
He said "They are raising bills more than any other water company in the country, yet still they dump sewage in the sea here. That's because the Labour government is failing us too. The water industry model is totally broken.
"We need decisive action and new legislation to fix it — not more of the same. Since entering government, Labour ministers have only made cosmetic moves for easy headlines and photo-opps."
Backing campaigners Surfers Against Sewage, Charlie argued that existing regulation has failed and urged local people to back a petition to stop sewage dumping.
“Like Surfers Against Sewage, I'm calling for deep structural change. Water companies must be run in the public interest — not for shareholders...
Water companies must be put into some kind of public control and its bosses made to focus on public health and the environment — not shareholder returns. Until then, we all know nothing meaningful will change.”
Charlie is urging residents across Southsea and Portsmouth South to sign and share the campaign's petition to force direct parliamentary action on water governance.
Sign the petition:
Stop The Sewage!
We want the government to stop companies like Southern Water polluting our seas, making us sick, wrecking our environment and charging us for the privilege.
If you want the dumping of sewage into our seas and rivers to stop, sign below to let the government know it has to stop!