Rock star turned environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey visited Peterborough yesterday (Monday) to support Andrew Pakes, the Labour Party candidate for the General Election. The one-time Undertones lead singer (a 1970s and 80s punk band) is now a clean water campaigner and Peterborough is one of the cities and towns he has visited during the election campaign.
“I’m here to talk about rip off,” he told CambsNews. “The simple fact is we have been extorted we’ve been lied to we’ve been misled, and we’ve been utterly utterly ripped off.”
He said: “By way of example last year water companies spent 4.6 million hours dumping sewage into our rivers and onto our beaches they paid themselves and the shareholders 72 billion pounds of our money and meanwhile we end up with rivers like this one full of sewage to the extent that they’re now failing ecologically
“We’ve been had, we’ve been scammed and it’s time to stop it and it all stops on Thursday when we get to elect Andrew Pakes and elect a Labour government.”
An important message from @Feargal_Sharkey about Thursday.
If we want change – on pollution in our rivers, to save the NHS, to tackle the cost of living crisis – vote for change. #Peterborough pic.twitter.com/K5y2vHDtem
— Andrew Pakes MP (@andrewpakes_) July 2, 2024
Feargal said: “Personally speaking it’s actually very very straightforward. All the laws required are there all the legislation is there all the rules and regulations are there.
“We simply need a government that’s got the determination the will and the ambition to put a stop to it to start delivering the service that we’ve already paid for which we have and making sure that these companies the directors are held to account, and they start delivering on the commitment they made to us all 33 years ago when they took these companies on.
“Here’s part of the issue part of the issue right now.
“Because of their incompetence and it blights the whole of the south the southeast and East Anglia because of the lack of strategy because of the lack of planning the lack of investment the whole of East Anglia the south and the southeast of England is now running out of water.
“In fact, the prediction currently is London will run out of water in the next 20 to 25 years and East Anglia is in the middle of all of that so they’re now scrambling for a life raft they’re now clutching at straws because they’ve been found out.
“They have basically gained the system they’ve scammed us for our money they’ve paid it off to their shareholders leaving these companies massively in debt and now they’ve been found out.”
Mr Pakes said: “Water is so incredibly important to Peterborough and the fenlands whether it’s Anglia Water and our waterways, whether it’s running out of water or whether it’s our drainage boards and the investment we need to protect ourselves from flooding as well as water loss.
“That has to have a government that’s on the side of the people who care understand and look after that and on Thursday we get a chance to elect a government that will do just that.
“One of the things we are passionate about in this city is the fact that we are the gateway to the Fens.
“We’ve got brilliant green spaces around us in the city centre but some of the best farmland, best countryside, best waterways and around us and people are fed up with the way the Tories have treated them.”
He added: “We are fed up with the way with the way the water companies are getting away with murder when it comes to pollution and giving the money away to shareholders.
“It’s time to put the public back into public service when it comes to our rivers and our waterways and there’s no better Champion for that than Feargal.”
