Andy Carter votes to block Labour's sewage dumping debate

A vote took place in the House of Commons on April 25, regarding the Water Quality (Sewage Discharge) Bill.

The Labour Party put forward a new version of the bill that MPs had two votes on: the first was to amend the bill; the second was to pass or reject the final bill.

Mr Carter voted in line with his Conservative colleagues, including the Prime Minister (Image: Andy Carter MP)

Andy Carter, the Conservative MP for Warrington South, was one of 290 MPs who voted to amend the proposal before it went to a full debate - essentially swinging it in the Government's favour.

The Labour Party then forced its MPs to abstain following the Government's amendment, meaning its own proposals were avoided due to the tactics used by the Tories.

According to the Labour Party during the initial debate, data from the Environment Agency suggests sewage is dumped every two-and-a-half minutes in the UK since 2016.

Labour says this amounts to 1,276 years' worth of sewage being dumped into waterways in just seven years.

Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols voted against the Government's amendment to the Labour Party's proposals (Image: Parliament TV)

During the day's debate, the Government said it would instead be pursuing its own framework designed to deal with the issue of sewage overflows.

The plans include ensuring water companies improve all storm overflows discharging into or near bathing waters and nature sites by 2035.

This also extends to all storm overflows by 2050.

However, this has been attacked by opposition parties for not going far enough to tackle the issues at hand, with some Labour MPs saying the Government's proposal is a 'recycled press release.'

In the past, Andy Carter has voted consistently against imposing Labour's proposed measures to tackle sewage overflows due to the tax burden this would put on constituents of Warrington South.

Mr Carter has said in the past he is against measures that would raise the tax burden for his constituents (Image: Andy Carter MP)

Following the most recent Commons vote, Mr Carter told the Warrington Guardian: "I am pleased to have endorsed the Government’s Plan for Water.

"This will see the north west allocated further funding from DEFRA to tackle sewage discharges and improve water quality across our region, with the threat of unlimited penalties for water companies who fail to clean up their act.  

"We are all rightly disgusted whenever we see reports of sewage overflows entering our rivers, but unfortunately, owing to the age and extent of the UK’s sewer network, there is no cheap or easy fix to the problem as Labour or the Liberal Democrats would have you believe – and oddly their MPs abstained, despite calling for a debate in Parliament."

Opposition parties were forced to abstain on the second part of this vote, due to a Parliamentary loophole that allowed the Government to amend the bill in its favour before it went to another Commons vote - meaning Labour and the Lib Dems would not vote for it.

This was seen by many as a political humiliation, given that the Labour Party first tabled the vote on the day.

The Tory MP says that opposition parties are 'playing politics' on the issue of sewage dumping (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Carter continued: "Time and time again, these opposition parties like to play politics by pretending that we are doing nothing to tackle sewage discharges, which could not be further from the truth.  

"Everything Labour has put forward – monitoring, requiring plans to be published, setting legal targets and introducing fines – the Government has already committed to or gone beyond, and the Liberal Democrats’ proposed tax on water companies would take more than 500 years to fund their sewage overflow plans.  

"When Labour were last in power, around seven per cent of overflows were monitored and they agreed a programme for the water companies to self-regulate.

"By the end of the year, all overflows will be monitored and self-regulation has ended."

The Conservative MP concluded: "We have a comprehensive and realistic plan of action that will deal with the problem, we’re getting on with addressing the issues.”