Shocking figures revealed by the Labour Party show that last year alone, the Tories allowed South West Water to dump raw sewage for 351,785 hours into our rivers and seas.

Labour also found that on average water companies in England and Wales are pumping raw sewage into our natural environment every two-and-a-half minutes. Areas such as beaches, rivers and playing fields have faced 1076 years worth of raw sewage over a six-year period.

Last year Conservative MPs voted to allow water firms to continue sewage dumping, blocking a Labour-backed amendment to the Environment Bill. Neither Conservative MPs in Plymouth backed the crucial amendment.

This comes amid revelations that, as Environment Secretary, Liz Truss slashed by a quarter an Environment Agency grant dedicated to monitoring water companies and cutting pollution of our waters. She also failed to hold a single meeting with a water company to discuss their performance of sewage dumping.

As former Shadow Environment Secretary, I led Labour’s campaign to stop raw sewage discharge into our rivers and seas: