Pupils at Kings Road Primary in Old Trafford, recently contacted their local MP, to ask if he’d visit to school. The Year 5 pupils had been learning about rivers and they wanted to talk to Andrew Western about the disgraceful level of sewage discharges into local waterways.

Recent data from the Environment Agency showed that water companies had discharged raw sewage into rivers and seas via their storm overflows more than 300,000 times in 2022. Several water companies are also under investigation for illegal discharges.

Andrew Western said: “The pupils at Kings Road Primary showed a tremendous breadth of knowledge about the issue of sewage discharge into our waterway system. It is a disgrace that utility companies have been allowed to mindlessly dump sewage in our rivers and the students I spoke to were very concerned about the damage this is causing the environment.

“I have agreed to write to both the Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and United Utilities on their behalf. I will share the responses I receive with the children directly.”

Labour has a plan to fix this. It will bring in a legally binding target to cut sewage discharge by 90%, by introducing mandatory sewage outlet monitoring and by issuing automatic fines for sewage discharges.

If you would like Andrew to visit your school, please contact his office.