Labour’s shadow chancellor promises tougher stance on water pollution on visit to Filey holiday park

Rachel Reeves has said that if Labour wins the next election, her party will force water companies to pay for ‘clearing up the mess’ of pollution, build more houses and give greater local powers for decisions on new holiday lets.

The MP made the comments during a visit to the Primrose Valley Holiday Park in Filey on Wednesday, July 26, where she spoke with staff and holidaymakers about domestic tourism, economic growth, and employment.

In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Ms Reeves said: “As a keen swimmer and someone who loves coastal holidays, I find it so depressing that beautiful beaches like the ones you have in Scarborough and Filey now have water quality that means people don’t want to swim in them.

“Too many businesses now feel that these fines are a cost of doing business and it shouldn’t be like that, so you need to toughen up the fines, you need to have mandatory monitoring, that’s what is needed for water companies to take responsibility”.

As part of the visit to Haven Leisure’s Primrose Valley Holiday Park, a 213-acre site on the outskirts of Filey, the shadow chancellor said she wanted to reform the apprenticeship levy that is paid at a rate of 0.5 per cent by employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3m.

She said: “I’ve been talking to the team here at Haven about what they need and the apprenticeship levy doesn’t really work for them.

“They’ve got lots of apprentices but they also want more flexibility to be able to invest that money into the skills of their workforce.”

The Holiday Park which employs almost 500 staff members and last year had a wage bill of £6.5m, also has 11 apprentices and works with local schools and sixth forms on job opportunities.

Nick Walker, the operations director for Haven’s northern sites, said: “It is absolutely fantastic to have Rachel Reeves with us today.

“She’s been able to see first-hand what investment in a local community can achieve.

“Local coastal towns have had it hard for quite a while now but we’ve shown here that if you invest in local sites like this, we’re able to create an employment opportunity and give people a phenomenal experience on holiday.”

Mr Walker said he hoped that the lowering of VAT rates for domestic holidays would be considered by the Government and added that changes to the apprenticeship levy being considered by Labour “will help us as well”.

During the visit, the shadow chancellor was also pressed on how she would alleviate deprivation in Scarborough and other coastal towns which have been found to ‘fall within the most deprived’ areas in North Yorkshire.

Asked whether she would scrap the two-child benefit cap and the bedroom tax, Ms Reeves said she was “determined to reduce child poverty” but would “not sign up to policies without being able to say where the money will come from”.

She added: “The truth is that the economic inheritance that I would face if Labour wins the next election would probably be the worst that any incoming government has faced […] but it is really important that people can trust me and trust Labour with their money.”

Before coming to Filey, Ms Reeves also visited Scarborough where she met with the Labour Party’s parliamentary candidate for Scarborough and Whitby, Alison Hume.

Ms Reeves said that after Labour’s recent victory in the Selby and Ainsty by-election “there are no no-go areas for Labour” and Scarborough and Whitby “is very much in our sights for the next election.”

The current MP for Scarborough and Whitby, Sir Robert Goodwill, has announced that he will be stepping down at the next election.

The Scarborough and Whitby Conservative Association has said it will be officially selecting its parliamentary candidate for the constituency on Friday, July 28.