Sewage pollution in the spotlight after sports governing bodies sound warning

This is a grave scandal unfolding in front of the public’s eyes. The authorities have been supine in the face of wanton destruction of Britain’s waterways.

As an Island, it is hugely embarrassing that the Government would allow water companies to carry on this way. It’s symptomatic of current politics in this country that such a scandal is allowed to meander for as long as it already has.

Ministers sought to rip up the standards system to save a colleague's political career. Unprecedented restrictions put on the general population that were subsequently not followed by lawmakers. Contracts dished out to friends with little or no expertise at the height of one of the gravest global crises in modern times.

If anyone was to search for an analogy for the past few years of governance, or lack of it, then they need only look at the nation’s waterways.

The sewage crisis affects communities in a variety of different ways and isn’t just about the damage to the environment. It stops people from becoming more physically active. Pollution is also a threat to elite athletes. National sports governing bodies believe “polluted water is a death knell for British sport”.

Whoever forms the next government has to make tackling sewage pollution a key priority. Currently, the hard-earned money of British taxpayers is being syphoned off by foreign investors who own the water companies, leaving behind a trail of pollution. That is morally objectionable.