'He's Made It Worse!' Feargal Sharkey calls on Environment Secretary Steve Reed to resign over 'water industry shambles'
Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey has told LBC that Environment Secretary Steve Reed should resign over the water industry shambles.
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A major review into the water system in England is unlikely to deliver any real change, he said.
The landmark review says the regulator Ofwat should be scrapped and consumers need to be given more powers over failing companies.
The report outlined 88 recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments to turn around the ailing industry after serious water pollution incidents surged by sixty per cent in the last year.
Ministers have banned water firms from taking huge bonuses and announced plans to half the amount of sewage being pumped into our lakes and rivers.
But long-time campaigner Mr Sharkey has pointed the finger of blame at the government, too - saying they're not doing enough to enforce the law as it stands.
He told LBC's Nick Ferrari: "Steve Reed could fix a lot of this today by simply replacing both those boards and reissuing the guidance, ordering them to actively get out there and proactively enforce the law as it stands.
"And government are ducking the responsibility in all of this. And for that, they should have shamed to a certain extent. I think Steve actually, and I should consider his position.
"I think he needs to go. I think he's actually ducked the underlying issues and he's trying to avoid taking accountability and responsibility. I think he's actually created a bigger shambles than the walls in the first place."
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Yesterday the Environmental Secretary criticised the "outrageous" bonuses being paid to the bosses of failing water companies - but failed to rule out legislating against pay rises for them.
Steve Reed told LBC's Lewis Goodall on Sunday morning: "I think it's absolutely outrageous.
"We passed legislation this year that bans those multi-million pound bonuses and indeed the regulator then used that legislation.
"But I would say to people like the boss at Southern (Water), they really need to think how this is going to look to their customers when they failed to deliver the investment plan that they had committed to in previous rounds of investment programming.
"Trust levels between customers and their water companies in many parts of the country are at an all time slow. Taking steps like that is only going to make this worse. And I think they need to think again".