The MP for Salisbury has responded to criticism after voting against a measure aimed to stop water companies from dumping raw sewage in waterways.

Last week, Conservative MP John Glen refused to back an amendment to the Environment Bill which sought to place a legal duty on water companies to “take all reasonable steps” not to pump untreated sewage into rivers. 

His decision was branded "a disgrace" by concerned residents, many of whom took to Twitter to express their dismay.

Read more: MP under fire for toeing the party line in sewage vote

Mr Glen has now defended his decision to vote against the proposed amendment, saying he is "happy to address the misconceptions" surrounding the vote.

In a statement, Mr Glen said: “I voted against the 9th Duke of Wellington’s amendment banning all discharge outright, because of the environmentally catastrophic unintended real world consequences it would have.

“On rare occasions, heavy rain causes the sewer system to flood. On those occasions, without controlled discharge, raw sewage would rise up through the manhole covers in our roads and gardens and flow through our streets and homes – indirectly entering waterways, lakes and groundwater from there.

“To completely rebuild and seal the sewage system to make flooding impossible, even in extreme conditions, would cost an estimated £150-£650 billion.

"To put this in context, £150 billion is more than the entire schools, policing and defence budgets put together, and £650 billion far exceeds the cost of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

“I support clean rivers but the government of the day can only pass legislation that is costed, deliverable, and which does not inadvertently do more harm to the environment than good.”

MPs voted 268 to 204, a majority of 64, on October 20 to disagree with these proposals which were tabled by Crossbench peer the Duke of Wellington.

Other amendments in this same section were accepted, outlining the role of the secretary of state in creating a plan to reduce storm overflow discharge to be published before September 2022.

Mr Glen gave more information about the decision on his blog.

Surfers Against Sewage campaigner Hugo Tagholm told BBC Breakfast today: “We were really disappointed that MPs failed to back the amendment to put a legal duty on water companies to stop raw sewage pouring into our rivers and our oceans.

“The amendment that is being called for is reasonable.

“We believe the water companies need to cut into the dividends they make every year to restore our rivers and our coastlines.

“They haven’t got a right to destroy these spaces and need to take the ambitious steps to restore them and we need to make sure the industry is not putting their profits ahead of making our spaces safe.”

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