Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey has failed to tackle sewage pollution on our beaches - Jim McMahon

As is the pattern under this government, the devil is in the detail, with this latest instalment outlining no plan for delivery, but jam tomorrow. Scrutiny of Thérèse Coffey’s track-record shows that her words do not add up to reality.

In announcing her new, old plan, Coffey stated that she wants to “leave the environment in a better place”. Yet the truth is that only three months into the role as Secretary of State she has already: broken the Government’s own statutory deadline for publishing environmental targets, been criticised by her own eco-watchdog for dragging her feet on improving air quality and announced measures that inflict more sewage dumping and toxic air on our country for longer.

In seeking to frame the headlines taken from her speech , Coffey told journalists “I give a s**t about water pollution”, which sits in stark contrast to her period as the Minister responsible for water between 2016 and 2019. On average she presided over a new sewage dumping event every four minutes and 321-years’ worth of sewage discharge in just three years. At the same time, decisions that she made resulted in regulatory resources to tackle water pollution being scaled back by a third. People who care about the environment do not give the green light for this to happen.

Just over a year ago, Thérèse Coffey had the opportunity to take a stand and vote for meaningful change in Parliament. But she decided to vote against a Labour-backed amendment in the House of Commons which would have placed legal obligations on water companies to stop polluting our waterways.

More recently, during her first Oral Questions as Environment Secretary, Coffey gave the game away when asked about her plans to meet water companies. Even her short-lived predecessor Ranil Jayawardena managed to do so, yet Coffey told Parliament that meeting water companies was not one of her ‘priorities’. Caring about the impact of sewage pollution means more than simply saying one thing but then kicking the can. Our coastal communities, where people live, holiday and work, deserve to be treated with respect.

But the case for action is not simply a recreational, environmental, and public health argument, it is also an economic one. Businesses that rely on holiday trade should not have to worry about the Tory sewage scandal turning tourists away from their communities. They should be able to trust that the government will act in their best interests and foster an environment in which they are able to invest, thrive and grow.

A Labour Government will do what the Tories have failed to do over the last 13 years in outlining a vision and a path for delivery.

Jim McMahon is the Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.