After a long summer of hustings, events, and interviews, we now have a new Prime Minister. Throughout this process, all the candidates who put themselves forward have faced detailed scrutiny and demonstrated the broad range of talent and diversity within the Conservative Party. We’ve known for a while that whatever the outcome our party would make history by electing either the first Asian or third woman Prime Minister.
Although I backed Rishi Sunak, I know Liz will do a good job and hit the ground running. She has already committed to immediate action on the cost of living – something she reiterated outside Number 10 Downing Street on Tuesday. I know how worrying things are at the moment for so many people with prices skyrocketing from food to fuel and everything in between. The Prime Minister will be announcing new measures soon to support people across the UK.
Over the last five years, one of my top priority items has been reducing sewage discharges into our rivers and along our coastlines. Before I became an MP, I had never really considered how our wastewater system worked. It is shocking to think practices such as using our precious rivers and coastline to manage excess water in our sewerage system still happens in the 21st century. We are the first Government to address this issue and through new legislation, better monitoring, tougher regulations, and investment we are making huge strides to bring an end to discharges.
As part of my work on this issue, I have organised an online panel event so my constituents, and others in neighbouring areas, can hear from the experts and put questions to them. Southern Water have confirmed they will be there, alongside their regulators; the Environment Agency and Ofwat. I’ve also invited Natural England, the RSPB, and Chichester Harbour Conservancy Director, Richard Craven, who is leading Chapron; a ground-breaking multi-agency approach to environmental improvement in Chichester Harbour.
This is a great opportunity for you to hear directly from the horse’s mouth and ask the important questions we all have like, how can we end sewage discharges? What is being done about it? And can we reverse the damage?
If you’d like to attend, please register on my website – www.gilliankeegan.com.
