The pollution of our rivers and waterways has rightly incensed people in recent years.
When we talk about the two governments in Wales and Westminster, it’s common to refer to them as governments “at either side of the M4”. Perhaps in this context, we should be talking about Labour governments on both sides of the River Wye. They must make tackling pollution in our waterways a priority.
Much has been said about how two Labour governments would be able to work together: the proof now will be whether we’ll start seeing results on issues like river pollution.
I would like to congratulate Monmouthshire MP Catherine Fookes on her first speech in the House of Commons. In her speech, she mentioned the importance of the health of our rivers, including the River Wye and the River Usk, which flow through Monmouthshire.
I hope she will work with Plaid Cymru to make sure that we have full powers over sewage and water here in Wales, so that we can start to address these problems.
Many people look at the situation of sewage in our rivers and they feel actual despair - and it is a despair mixed with revulsion, because there cannot be a metaphor that is more on the nose than the example of shareholders getting wads of cash while human waste is pumped into places where children play.
There is surely no better example of our broken economic system than this: where we see water being monetised and choked with sewage.
Both governments – those either side of the Wye - must hold the water companies responsible to account for dumping sewage into the sea and our rivers. We cannot allow this scourge to continue.