James Ball

Brexit isn’t to blame for sewage dumping at sea

Credit: iStock

Facing inflation rates in excess of 18 per cent, a painful recession, and the prospect of electricity bills costing more than a mortgage, the UK’s troubles are mounting. But weighing on our minds almost as much is the fact that we seem to be pumping unprecedented levels of sewage into the sea.

This would be far from ideal – to say the least – at any time of year, but coming in the peak of August, just as families are out trying to enjoy the beach, the issue is understandably hitting home.

But while it’s true that there have been days of huge sewage discharge into the sea, there has also been an awful lot of garbage talked as to why it’s happening. This has all helped to fuel the social media narrative and keep the issue so near the top of the political agenda.

The most common framing of the debate on social media is that Conservative MPs ‘voted to allow raw sewage into our beautiful seas and rivers’, often accompanied with an unflattering picture of the local MP in question.

Sewage isn’t being dumped at sea because of moustache-twirling villains or the absence of a relatively easy-to-obtain chemical

Such a framing should – but doesn’t – make us stop and think. If a vote is framed so that only a moustache-twirling silent movie villain would vote that way, shortly before tying a maiden to some train tracks, we should start to wonder whether there might be more to the issue than is being suggested.

It is true that Conservative MPs voted against an amendment that would have created a stricter duty on water companies to end dumping sewage into the sea – by 265 votes to 202 (with a relatively small Conservative rebellion).

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Written by
James Ball
James Ball is the Global Editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which last month launched a two-year project looking into Russian infiltration of the UK elite and in London’s role in enabling overseas corruption

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