Jo met Thérèse Coffey who didn’t know that Liz Truss, who was in charge at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) between 2014 and 2016, oversaw “efficiency” plans set out in the 2015 spending review to reduce Environment Agency funding by £235m.  [Coffey was Deputy Prime Minister from September to October 2022 under, guess who? – Liz Truss!] – Owl

From ESCAPE facebook page

Short(ish) update on Monday evening’s House of Commons event, Surfers Against Sewage launching the End Sewage Pollution manifesto. You can read it here: https://www.sas.org.uk/…/the-end-sewage-pollution…/.

I gave a short talk, emphasising the impact sewage pollution has on me personally, and also the much wider  impact on the environment and also the tourism industry.

The event was well attended, although fewer MPs came than were expected due to an important debate going on at the same time in the main chamber. Surprisingly Therese Coffey  turned up, and tried to tell me that the EA did not have their funding cut by Liz Truss… I was able to correct her . I was told at one point that Simon Jupp MP  had arrived; I didn’t see him, and when I went to talk to him he’d gone. So perhaps he wasn’t there at all, or if he was he avoided me!

The event was hosted by Richard Foord MP, Lib Dem for Honiton & Tiverton. He said the Lib Dems fully support the manifesto and are committed to implementing it in full. (I’m not  reporting this as a Lib Dem fan, it’s just what he said. If I could vote anyone in, it would be Surfers Against Sewage.)

Overall it was an excellent event that gave a very strong message to Government that enough is enough, we need commitment to change, followed through with actions. I was honoured to be a part of it.