UK Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey struggled to stay on top of a stand-up paddle board while on the campaign trail in England’s Lake District.
The 58-year-old was recorded braving the country’s largest natural lake Windermere on an SUP and falling off not once but twice.
The Liberal Democrat leader was campaigning in the town of Windermere at the time ahead of the UK general election, which is due to take place on Thursday 4 July.
He accused the Government of “sitting on their hands” over water pollution, and said local environmental experts should be represented on water company boards to ensure sewage spills are taken seriously.
Under his party’s plans, Mr Davey said local environment experts within the community would sit on the water company boards as non-executive directors to “improve public accountability and transparency”.
The experts would also be expected to hold community meetings to report back on action being taken.
According to the Environment Agency, sewage spills into England’s rivers and seas more than doubled in 2023 with 3.6 million hours of spills last year – equal to about 400 years – compared with 1.75 million hours in 2022.
