On a day when raw sewage was pumped into his local river for nearly 6 hours, Dominic Raab fails to turn up to vote for laws to stop it

• Esher and Walton’s MP fails to turn up to vote for tough new measures on water companies despite sewage discharges in rivers, lakes and beaches
• Raab missing from vital vote while raw sewage was being pumped into the River Mole in the heart of his constituency in Esher for nearly                                    six hours
• Liberal Democrats slam “scandalous” decision by the Government to block the bill

On Tuesday 25th April, the Government blocked a new law which would have clamped down on water firms found to be discharging sewage into rivers, lakes and coastlines. 

Nearly 300 Conservative MPs voted to block the bill which would have introduced automatic fines on water companies breaking their sewage dumping permits. Dominic Raab, forced to resign just a few days earlier as Deputy Prime Minister in the wake of a damning report on his bullying behaviour, could not even be bothered to turn up to Parliament on an issue that is a top concern for his constituents in Esher and Walton.

Opposition MPs, including the Liberal Democrats supported the Sewage Discharge Bill. 

The Sewage Discharge Bill would have:

• Imposed automatic fines on water companies for sewage discharges
• Introduced legal requirements for monitoring sewage and fining broken sewage monitors
• Implemented legally binding targets on reducing sewage discharges 
• Required the Government to public a strategy for the reduction of sewage discharges 

Last year, raw sewage was pumped into rivers and seas for 1.75 million hours, an average 825 times per day, according to official Environment Agency data. In Esher and Walton, the River Mole had sewage dumped into it more than 200 times last year, for a total of 3000 hours.