A LABOUR MP has been told to “fact check first” by members of the public after he falsely claimed there was a sewage leak in his constituency, sparking concerns online.
Chris Murray, Labour MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, posted an image (pictured) of what he believed to be a sewage leak at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh.
Posting on Twitter/X, Murray said: “This is the pic of Portobello circulating this morning. It looks like a sewage leak (what is it?!)
“It’s totally unacceptable that this is washing onto the beach and into the sea. So much for the reassurances from @scottishwater that everything is fine!"
He later added: “Thank goodness we have Porty Water Collective spotting this and capturing a sample. But it shouldn’t be left to volunteers! If this isn’t fixed people will stop using the beach, or worse, someone will get sick.
“@scotgov needs to get a grip on this! I’ll be following up.”
One user tagged Scottish Water and said: “If that's sewage, then someone urgently needs to see a doctor. Are you sure @scottish_water are responsible?”
Scottish Water replied to the concerned post and said the “non-toxic colouring” was “almost certainly dye” being used to carry out testing, adding that it “therefore does not have any impact on the environment”.
The body said that operations team from Scottish Water has not carried out any testing and the colour was “likely the result” by a private contractor or third- party working in the area.
After it had been clarified by Scottish Water, hundreds replied to Murray’s original post with several calling on him to apologise, retract his statement and clarify the facts.
One user responded asked if he would link to the Scottish Water response as a correction, with another adding: “Pick up the phone to Scottish Water and ask. Not use a wrong social media account. Dire behaviour.”
Another wrote: “Weird way of contacting Scottish Water by an elected representative. Pretty performative rather than actually helping.”
“I'm sure an MP would be able to place a call with @ScottishEPA and then bring facts to their social media account rather than just shooting fish in a barrel,” another replied.
Murray later caused upset after one user said: "Stop pretending Scotland's water is anywhere near the crisis in England's water. Our problems result from ancient infrastructure being overwhelmed by climate change flooding, not profits instead of investment as in England. Independence and our own currency would fix this as Westminster won't."
Murray responded and said "this attitude" drives him "absolutely nuts".
"Not everything is about independence! I fully respect people have different views on the constitution. But this is about sewage in the water! It doesn't really matter if it's better or worse than England if there's literal sewage in it."
SNP MSP James Dornan replied and said: "I suspect what drives you absolutely nuts, besides, hopefully, your guilt at having had to constantly lie to get elected of course, is the idea that Scotland is in a better place than the rest of your beloved union, on any issue."
Another wrote: "You drive me and thousands of others 'nuts' with your constant gaslighting."
Several have now also called on Murray to post any analysis or findings from the water testing that is being carried out by Sepa after reports came through from the public amid the concerns.
Murray told The National he was “so relieved that, this time, it seems it wasn’t sewage in Portobello”.
He added: “Pictures of outflow had been circulating online so, as the local MP, I raised it with Scottish Water to identify if it was sewage.
“We have a problem in Scotland. Scottish beaches have eight times as much sewage-related debris as England or Wales, according to Marine Conservation Society Data. In Portobello, after heavy rain, there are wet wipes and sanitary products on the beach - which have clearly been swept through the sewage system.
“The first problem: we don’t monitor it. So local groups like the Porty Water Collective have to monitor it themselves. We need a far better system than this: it’s undeniable we need better monitoring.”
A Scottish Water spokesperson told The National: “We have carried out a check of our assets in the area and have not found any issues. We are investigating whether any third party activity is involved and will be keeping Sepa updated.”
Sepa has been contacted for comment.
