MP Damian Green says he 'swan in sewage' in Barry's Jackson's Bay

Ashford MP Damian Green - who is originally from Barry - made the comments on ITV's Peston earlier this week during a discussion on sewage dumping.

"It's a problem, I'm absolutely not denying that it is a big issue - but it always has been," he said.

"I remember as a child in South Wales, swimming in sewage.

"Jackson's Bay in Barry used to be a sewage outlet where we all went and paddled and swam and it was sort of regarded as acceptable, of course it wasn't acceptable."

"I remember as a child in South Wales swimming in sewage"

Conservative MP @DamianGreen says water pollution from sewage dumping has always been an issue, but it used to be perceived as more acceptable #Peston pic.twitter.com/386v3pltuJ

— Peston (@itvpeston) May 17, 2023

The MP was speaking during a discussion of figures showing how much sewage had been dumped into rivers, lakes, and the sea over the past year.

According to Natural Resources Wales, water quality in Jackson's Bay is currently rated "sufficient", having been downgraded from "good" in 2019.

Reaction to Mr Green's comments on social media was largely derisory, with prominent TV scientist Professor Brian Cox among those lampooning the MP for his claims.

Referring to a classic Monty Python sketch, Professor Cox, said: "You were lucky. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah. And you try and tell the young people of today that... they won't believe you."