PM makes his pitch to stay on at Number 10

Rishi Sunak said that action was being taken to force water companies to clean up their act, amid rising anger amongst those who swim in and fish on the river.

He also spoke of his determination to rid the streets of knife crime – just moments after seven young people were handed life terms for the murder of 21-year-old Bailey Atkinson in the West Midlands.

Rishi said that, as a parent of two young daughters himself, he felt deeply for the families of those affected by knife crime.

He said proposed new laws, introduced to the Commons by Home Secretary in January, would be put into force as a matter of urgency if he were re-elected.

During his visit to the Midland News Association’s head office at Mander House in Wolverhampton, Mr Sunak also spoke about the financial crisis facing local authorities in the region, including in Tory-run Shropshire and also talked about the victims of the Horizon post office scandal.

Q: Last year, some parts of our region saw raw sewage pumped into the River Severn for the equivalent of 120 full days, a third of the entire year. Can this continue, and what would you do to address the matter?

A: “The volume of sewage discharge into our rivers has been unacceptable, that’s why we’ve given the regulator very tough new powers to hold water-company bosses to account, to make sure that none of them are profiting from environmental damage, whether it comes to bonuses or dividend payments, and giving them powers to levy unlimited fines and penalties on water companies which we expect them to use to hold people accountable. On top of that, we are now monitoring all storm overflows, which didn’t happen in the past, investing record sums into our water infrastructure to improve it.”