Liz Truss said it was "disgraceful" that raw sewage was being dumped in rivers in a newly unearthed speech - despite making cuts accused of fuelling the problem when she was Environment Secretary.
The Tory leadership frontrunner has come under fire for presiding over £235million of savings to the Environment Agency budget during her 2014-2016 stint at the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Campaigners accused her of having "sewage on her hands" after Labour analysis showed human waste discharges in England and Wales had doubled from 14.7 per overflow in 2016 to 29.3 in 2021.
