Evening Standard Comment: Duke of Wellington battles for sewage U-turn

It was not quite this government’s Waterloo, but an unlikely coalition of a concerned public, the singer Feargal Sharkey and the Duke of Wellington has brought about a U-turn on the sewage crisis.

Environment Secretary George Eustice has accepted that water companies must have a greater legal duty to reduce the level of effluence released into our waters, stemming from storm overflows.

The growing public storm and the timing of the row, days before delegates arrive from around the world for COP26, made for discomfort amongst ministers.

Yet this partial victory should not be the end of the matter. A recent report alleged that the Environment Agency has failed to record hundreds of spills in the last few years by Thames Water. Our waterways are critical parts of our urban environment. We must do more to protect them.

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