PM’s father Stanley Johnson blames government for sewage being pumped into British waterways

Stanley Johnson, the prime minister’s father, has blamed his son’s government for the staggering levels of sewage being pumped into Britain’s waterways.

Speaking to LBC host Rachel Johnson – who is the PM’s sister – the 82-year-old former Conservative MEP suggested that Brexit meant his son Boris Johnson’s administration “felt able not to push” to stop the pollution as strongly as it might have were the UK still part of the EU.

Ministers have come under increasing pressure to halt the routine pollution, as dozens of warnings were put in place this week at beaches and swimming spots after heavy rain overwhelmed sewer systems, leading water firms to release sewage into the natural environment.

Environment Agency figures published this weekend suggested there had been a 27-fold increase in untreated sewage discharges into rivers and seas over the last five years.

The figures, obtained by Labour via Freedom of Information requests, showed raw sewage has been pumped into UK waterways for a total of 9,427,355 hours since 2016, prompting Sir Keir Starmer’s party to warn the situation is “drastically worsening” under the Conservatives.

In a further revelation on Sunday, Lib Dem analysis of the agency’s data found nearly one in four UK sewage discharges went unmonitored last year – with 1,802 monitors installed by water companies not working for at least 90 per cent of the time, and a complete absence of monitors during 1,717 storm overflows.

Warning that the lack of statistical measurement of water quality at UK beaches was “a shocking state of affairs”, the prime minister’s father recalled that “Britain was known as the dirty man of Europe” prior to joining what is now the European Union in 1973.

European regulations during that period “transformed the quality of bathing water around the whole of Europe” and the UK “really did get a cleanup”, Mr Johnson told LBC on Sunday evening.

But with the UK having left the EU, Mr Johnson said he suspects “that we are now in a very, very difficult and dangerous situation”.

While “some of the EU legislation was carried over” and should “in theory” be in effect, “without the backing which the EU framework gave ... we face a long slog”, said Mr Johnson.

“I’m talking particularly about the backing of the European Commission, the European court, and the fact that people were ready to take the government to court for not insisting that these standards are upheld,” the 82-year-old said.

Mr Johnson – whose son’s overriding legacy as prime minister may prove to be having overseen Britain’s exit from the bloc – said that although “we’ve finished with Brexit”, ministers “absolutely need to build a new union within the wider European network”.

“Bring back, for example, the statistical measurements,” he said. “We haven’t measured water quality on our beaches for three or four years now. It’s a shocking state of affairs.”

Asked by his daughter who is to blame for the sitution, he replied: “I would say we have to blame the government for not pressing this matter as hard as it should have done, and of course absent the EU push as well you can understand how the government has felt able to not push this thing as it should have pushed.”

In its Environment Bill, voted through parliament in November, the government moved to add an amendment calling on companies to make a “progressive reduction” in the amount of sewage they pump into the waterways, after a lengthy row in the House of Lords over calls for stronger protections.

But the government’s eventual amendment, which failed to stipulate the amount of the reduction required by water companies, was criticised by campaigners as a “political ruse” that places a “meaningless” duty on firms.

“We do have the amendment now ... but what I would like to see is for Britain to go back – not go back obviously into the EU – but at least go back into an agency which gives us the statistical evidence,” Mr Johnson told LBC.

“It’s not just sewage which goes into our seas and rivers. It’s all sorts of things. And you have to have a general framework of water management, and that was one thing which flowed well from the EU directives.”

On Sunday, The Independent revealed that every wastewater company in England and Wales has failed to meet their targets to tackle pollution or sewage floods, with the 11 largest companies monitored by water regulator Ofwat together facing tens of millions of pounds in financial penalties for last year’s failings.