Brentwood & Ongar Labour are delighted to announce that they will be holding an event in partnership with the Brentwood Theatre on Monday 23rd November entitled Britain’s Water Scandal with Feargal Sharkey and Clifford Roney.
Water has been run by the private sector in England and Wales since the ten regional public bodies were sold by the Conservative government to investors in 1989. Since then, they have paid out over £74 billion in dividends instead of upgrading ageing pipes and treatment plants. The impact has been shocking: raw sewage has been discharged into our rivers and coastlines for an estimated 16.3 million hours between 2019 and 2024 alone.
Discharging raw sewage is illegal in the vast majority of cases, but the broken regulatory system has meant that those responsible have not faced prosecution or lost their jobs—in fact, they have continued to receive bigger bonuses than ever! As justice has inched closer towards the culprits, they are now doing everything they can to sell up and hide from the consequences.
A landmark Channel 4 docu-series aired in February, Dirty Business, looked at the human and ecological damage that has been caused, and those that are fighting for both justice and the policy reform that will ensure this can never happen again. We will be hearing from two of the campaigners that were featured in the docu-series.
Feargal Sharkey is an environmentalist and a former musician from Derry. He was the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones from 1975-1983 and his 1985 solo single “A Good Heart” was a number-one hit in the UK and countries across the world. After his third solo album in 1991, he moved into the business side of the music industry. A lifelong fly fisherman, he has been a prominent water campaigner for well over a decade, regularly appearing on television, radio, and at conferences to raise awareness of the scandal.
Clifford Roney is a trade unionist and a former water engineer from London. He had over 40 years of experience working in the water industry, before and after privatisation, working for Thames Water in Kilburn. Later, he continued to work as a GMB union representative for Thames Water employees. Through his experience in the water industry and his role as a union representative, he has seen firsthand the damage done to the Thames and our other rivers. Today, he leads the campaign of GMB to restore water into public hands.
Both water campaigners have worked together for many years since they met in the mid-2000s. Now, they will join each other on stage at the Brentwood Theatre to share their experience, answer questions on their work, and discuss what the Government and the public can do to save our rivers and coastlines and hold the people responsible to account.
The event will begin at 7pm and last for around two hours. Tickets are £12 per person and can be purchased online now.
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