Last Thursday in the House of Commons, 15 Yorkshire Tory MPs helped to push a parliamentary ‘drain rod’ through an amendment to the environment bill that would have blocked the discharge of untreated sewage to Britain’s coastal waters.
Lords amendment 45 was lost by 268 to 204, with the defeat coming through 268 Conservative MPs who voted according to the government line as recommended by DEFRA Secretary George Eustace.
MPs vote not to stop the discharge of untreated sewage to Britain’s coastal waters
The Duke of Wellington’s Amendment, number 45 on the list, would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage”.
The 15 Yorkshire MPs apparently happy to see Britain turned into a cesspool were:
| Robert Goodwill | Scarborough & Whitby | Conservative |
| Greg Knight | East Yorkshire | Conservative |
| Nigel Adams | Selby & Ainsty | Conservative |
| Stuart Andrew | Pudsey | Conservative |
| Miriam Cates | Penistone & Stocksbridge | Conservative |
| Nick Fletcher | Don Valley | Conservative |
| Kevin Hollinrake | Thirsk & Malton | Conservative |
| Andrea Jenkyns | Morley & Outwood | Conservative |
| Andrew Jones | Harrogate & Knaresborough | Conservative |
| Robbie Moore | Keighley | Conservative |
| Alec Shelbrooke | Elmet & Rothwell | Conservative |
| Julian Smith | Skipton & Ripon | Conservative |
| Alexander Stafford | Rother Valley | Conservative |
| Graham Stuart | Beverley & Holderness | Conservative |
| Julian Sturdy | York Outer | Conservative |
According to the GMB union, almost three quarters of England’s water industry is currently owned by overseas entities including the super-rich, banks, hedge funds, foreign governments and businesses based in tax havens.
The industry has paid £6.5bn in dividends to shareholders in the last five years.
