• Lib Dems call for new protections for rivers and coastlines as sewage dumped over 100,000 times in bathing water areas
• Rennie writes to Justice Secretary following FAI report on M9 crash
• Cole-Hamilton responds to £450m EU funding revelation
• Cole-Hamilton speaks ahead of first Scottish leaders’ debate

Lib Dems call for new protections for rivers and coastlines as sewage dumped over 100,000 times in bathing water areas

• Rivers to be given new protected status against sewage discharges with current government scheme branded “toothless”

• Party uncovers water firms have discharged sewage over 100,000 times in current bathing water status areas

• Lib Dems set out “boldest manifesto on cleaning up our rivers and coastlines”

The Liberal Democrats have announced a massive expansion of marine protected areas and a new Blue Flag status for rivers will be included in their general election manifesto.

In response to sewage being pumped into bathing water status rivers, the party has announced plans for new Blue Flag rivers, setting legally binding targets to prevent sewage dumping in those sites. Blue Flag rivers would give special protected status for swimmers and wildlife.

The current government bathing water scheme has failed to protect waterways from sewage discharges by only requiring increased water quality testing. Analysis by the Liberal Democrats has found since 2020, water companies have discharged sewage into bathing water areas 105,347 times, equating to a staggering 694,487 hours worth of sewage.

The two worst offending companies were United Utilities, which dumped sewage into the Lake District, and South West Water, found to be polluting beaches in Cornwall and Devon.

The Liberal Democrats are also announcing new plans to protect coastal marine wildlife, which would see the expansion of the blue belt of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to cover at least 50% of the UK territorial waters by 2030.

Marine environments are currently in a state of crisis due to sewage and plastic pollution. The new target on MPAs would be achieved by working in partnership with UK Overseas Territories, as well as mandating the government to monitor the sites.

The latest announcement on water quality follows the party announcing its plans to abolish Ofwat, introducing a new regulator with greater powers, as well as a ban on water company executive bonuses.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Our precious rivers and coastlines have been destroyed after years of a Conservative government letting water firms get away with environmental vandalism.

It is time we got tough on polluting and profiteering water firms. Conservative MPs have stood by whilst swimmers have become ill and wildlife killed by sewage discharges.

This scandal has to end now. The Conservative government introduced a toothless scheme which has not protected swimmers and wildlife.

The Liberal Democrats will have the boldest manifesto on cleaning up our rivers and coastlines. Families should be free to swim safely in the knowledge that our waters are not polluted with sewage.

Rennie writes to Justice Secretary following FAI report on M9 crash

Following the report into the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill on the M9 in 2015, Scottish Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie MSP has today written to the Justice Secretary to ask whether the Scottish Government will accept responsibility for its part in the tragedy, and whether it will finally commit to proper reform of the Fatal Accident Inquiry system.

In July 2015, John Yuill and his partner, Lamara Bell, died after their car crashed off the M9 near Stirling in 2015. They lay undiscovered in the car for three days, despite a member of the public reporting the crash to Police Scotland.

In the months leading up to the tragedy, Willie Rennie repeatedly raised concerns about the police call-handling system directly with the First Minister. He highlighted that by rushing through their centralisation of Scottish policing, the government had allowed staff to be replaced with officers from the front line who did not know how the call-handling system worked.

Earlier this week, a Fatal Accident Inquiry report, published almost nine years after the crash, found that had it not been for Police Scotland’s “organisational failure” in the call-handling system, Lamara Bell would probably have survived.

Due to the lengthy delays in publishing the report, there were no recommendations for future actions as Police Scotland had already changed its procedure over the past 9 years.

Cole-Hamilton responds to £450m EU funding revelation

Responding to the report in The Times that the SNP Government will return £450m of funding to the EU because it has failed to spend it, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

People are already sick of the SNP wasting our money. The news that it has squandered £450m of EU funding through incompetence detonates any last claim they had to economic credibility.

This proves once again that the SNP just can’t be trusted. Our public services and businesses are all paying the price. They have got to go and it’s clear that in many parts of Scotland it is the Scottish Liberal Democrats who can get the SNP out.

This election is our chance to deliver the change Scotland desperately needs.

Cole-Hamilton speaks ahead of first Scottish leaders’ debate

Speaking ahead of the first televised Scottish leaders’ debate on Monday evening, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

I am very much looking forward to this debate.

Elections aren’t won or lost on a TV debate, but this is a chance to pitch our message of hope and change to the people of Scotland.

With every Liberal Democrat you elect, you will get a local champion who will work tirelessly for you all year round and put public service at the heart of everything they do.