Southern Water offers bill discounts to some sewage protesters

The water firm was fined £90m for discharging billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea at Kent and Hampshire from 2010-15. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

Southern Water is offering discounts on bills to some people engaged in a non-payment protest campaign over raw sewage discharges, in an apparent concession to the boycott.

The non-payment protest, which was backed by Sir Bob Geldof, began because of anger at the level of untreated sewage discharged into coastal waters.