Raw, free-flowing sewage seems apt after 14 years of Tory rule

Privatised water companies dumped raw sewage into England’s waterways for 3.6 million hours in 2023, which is up from 1.7 million in 2022.

Since they were privatised in 1989, the water companies have paid their shareholders £1.4bn in dividends while investment in infrastructure has gone down by 15 per cent. There is not one river in England that isn’t contaminated with sewage.

Things are so bad that rowers taking part in Saturday’s Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race have been advised not to enter the Thames after high levels of E.coli were found in the river – the direct consequence of the sewage discharge.

Water should be brought into public ownership without a penny paid in “compensation” to its current owners. Neoliberalism and market mechanisms have no place in the provision of something so vital as water. The objective of publicly owned water would be to provide clean, safe water to the public, and process sewage in a sanitary manner without poisoning the environment.

Sasha Simic

London

Labour is right to criticise the government’s recent proposals to release violent offenders early from UK prisons, to help with overcrowding. But it seems rich coming from a party that lacks fresh proposals on how to fix the issue and ignores obvious measures that could ease pressure on prisons.

Almost 3,000 prisoners – equivalent to five average prisons – are stuck in the system, when they shouldn’t even be in there anymore! I’m talking about imprisonment for public protection (IPP). Ninety-nine per cent of IPPs are beyond their original sentences and 700 are over 10 years beyond their sentence. Everyone can see this is not what British justice should be about, and yet Labour – like the Tories – refuses to do any serious thinking about what can be done to solve IPPs or commit to doing something substantive to bring numbers down.

So instead of sniping from the sidelines and trying to score political points, maybe Labour should spend more time considering the impact that reviewing over-tariff IPPs could have on our prisons. After all, it was the last Labour government that introduced these torturous indefinite sentences in the first place, so it would be fitting if it was the next one that put this dreadful mistake right.

Henry Rossi

Bristol

Unsurprisingly, the subject of unelected prime ministers has received a lot of coverage in the media. The noise on social media has been steadily increasing, and doubtless will grow louder now we hear the Tories only have a 1 per cent chance of re-election.

Anyway, I suddenly remembered which prime minister had the longest unelected tenure of the modern era (my benchmark is 1900). Lord Balfour on three years, four months and 22 days (by my calculation). Just slightly ahead of James Callaghan on three years and 29 days. January 2025 is the limit to how long Rishi Sunak can hold on for – so he cannot outlast the above. It means that when he leaves Downing Street he will not even be remembered as the longest-serving unelected PM, or even the runner-up.

Oh well, at least he won’t be known for having the shortest-ever tenure in No 10. Liz Truss, on 49 days, is bound to hold that title forever.

Robert Boston

Kent

As an 89-year-old pensioner, I am in complete agreement with Bob Sampson in The Independent’s recent letters page. I am in no way persuaded to vote Conservative at the next election, regardless of changes to pensions.

With an ageing population and a shrinking workforce, the triple lock on pensions is unsustainable. Any help given to pensioners should be targeted to those who are really in need. I know there are a great many pensioners today who, like me, were able to save for an additional private pension while employed. Some of them are now very well off. But the workers, both now and in the future, who struggle on very low wages will not have the ability to save for their retirement.

I see no reason to give every pensioner the triple lock increases or a tax-free bonus such as winter fuel payments. Any additional money spent on pensions should go to those who need it most.

Margaret Crosby

Wheathampstead