Famous clean rivers campaigner Feargal Sharkey slams Government on Aylesbury visit

Sharkey, who was the lead singer of The Undertones, has become known for raising awareness and holding companies who dump sewage water in British rivers to account.

On Saturday (22 June), the Northern Irishman visited the River Thame with Labour’s Parliamentary candidate, Laura Kyrke-Smith, while endorsing her campaign to be elected in the county town.

He said: “We are two weeks away from an election. We now know, that back in 2012, the previous Government was taken to the European Court of Justice and found guilty of breaking the law by allowing water companies to dump sewage wilfully and knowingly, blatantly into the environment.

"Last year water companies spent 4.6 million hours dumping sewage into rivers and onto beaches in England alone. As a result of that there is not a single river alone in England that is not polluted.”

Sharkey began campaigning to improve rivers across the country after seeing the damage being done to waterways while out fly-fishing. He regularly appears on daytime television urging the authorities to do more to stop sewage dumping.

He added: “The Thame here at Watermead is currently categorised by the Environment Agency as being in ‘poor ecological condition. That is diplomatic code for effectively ecologically dead.”

The Conservative Party claims it had taken action to address the sewage waste polluting British rivers. In 2022, the Government announced its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan and introduced laws forcing water companies to reduce their number of discharges.

Kyrke-Smith is competing against Aylesbury’s most recent MP, Rob Butler, who is representing the Conservatives at the upcoming election. As well as the Liberal Democrat candidate, Steve Lambert, Julie Elizabeth Atkins the Green Party candidate, Jan Gajdos of the Workers Party of Britain, Lesley Ann Taylor of Reform UK, and Richard Lewis Wilding, who is standing as a Social Democrat Party candidate.

Research firm, Ipsos, says the outcome of who will be elected to the seat in Aylesbury remains uncertain. On its interactive map it has labelled the outcome a ‘toss up’, giving Labour a minor edge over the Conservatives.