Row over sewage at FMQs 05-06-25

Alex Cole-Hamilton accuses John Swinney of complacency over Scotland's sewage problem at First Minister's Questions on 05-06-25.

Transcript

00:00Morning officer. Sanitary towels and wet wipes on the beach at North Berwick.

00:05Raw sewage in Gala. A beach covered in thick brown discharge in Dumfries in Galloway.

00:13The River Armand making swimmers sick and paddleboarders covered in sewage in the River Tay.

00:19Today, on World Environment Day, the Scottish Liberal Democrats are publishing new research

00:24showing thousands of complaints from members of the public about sewage.

00:28Sewage that is, I quote, absolutely honking in Dingwall.

00:34Presiding officer, songs were written about Scotland being the land of the shining river.

00:38Does the First Minister mind that his government's own water company is dumping so much sewage into them?

00:45First Minister.

00:46In relation to the question of water quality,

00:5187% of Scotland's entire water environment is assessed by SEPA as having a high or good classification for water quality.

01:01That has increased from 82% in 2014.

01:05So, what I would, obviously, I want to make sure that we've got the highest quality natural environment,

01:14that we have water systems that are of the highest quality,

01:19and that indicates that the government is making progress on the steps that were taken to ensure that that is the case.

01:25Alex Cole-Hamilton.

01:27Well, the complacency in the First Minister's answer suggests that he is content with the situation as it is.

01:33But the European Court of Justice has ruled sewage dumping should only happen in exceptional circumstances.

01:39But it's happening all the time, almost everywhere, even on dry days.

01:43And last year, Scottish Water dumped sewage at least 24,500 times.

01:49But the lack of monitoring means that's only a fraction of what's really going on.

01:54Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for a new Act of Parliament,

01:57a Clean Water Act, to tackle this,

01:59because under the SNP, communities are just expected to put up with it.

02:04Presiding officer, last week, Thames Water got fined £100 million for sewage dumping,

02:10but there are never any consequences here in Scotland.

02:14Is that because the First Minister knows it's actually his government that's at fault for this absolutely honking problem?

02:21First Minister.

02:23Well, I have to say what's absolutely honking is Mr Cole-Hamilton's attempt to conflate the situation in Scotland

02:31and the operation of one of the strongest assets in our country,

02:36of a publicly owned water network with Thames Water.

02:40The privatisation of water in England has been an unmitigated disaster for the people of England and Wales,

02:47and I thank our predecessors for not taking such a foolish decision in the first place.

02:54And we operate in a situation which is not perfect,

02:59but where we have a very high quality level of performance

03:02in the quality of our natural environment,

03:05and I don't think it's a good advert for Mr Cole-Hamilton

03:08to undermine the strength of the natural environment of Scotland

03:12when we are spending £500 million to improve water quality in Scotland

03:17and then to compare Scotland's water, an asset to our country,

03:21to the folly that is privatisation in England and Wales.

03:24Thank you very much.