Courts pressed to impose sentences which hurt over water pollution

 EA, the official environmental watchdog, has responded strongly to the string of pollution incidents laid at the door of water and sewage companies. As Politics Home reports, EA chair Emma Howard Boyd calls for the courts to use the full extent of their powers to punish the transgressors.

Four companies, including Thames Water, Anglian Water and Wessex and Yorkshire Water, were all rated two stars, meaning they have been deemed in need of significant improvement, while two, South West Water and Southern Water were given the lowest possible rating.

Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the Environment Agency, said they planned to make it "too painful" for offending firms to continue as they called for higher fines, jail sentences and the threat of directors being struck off if they are responsible for serious environmental damage.

Is it too much to hope that when Rishi Sunak and Elizabeth Truss parade up and down the kingdom their credentials to become leader of their party and thence prime minister, that they are asked whether they agree with tougher action against polluters? Conservative party members must be as appalled as the rest of us at the despoliation of our rivers. Indeed, those in the shires may have been directly affected. They should take the opportunity to make their feelings known.