Grantham MP Gareth Davies today raised the issue of littering at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. Praising constituents who have spent the past few months of lockdown taking to the streets to tackle litter in their neighbourhoods, Mr Davies highlighted the efforts of litter-pickers in Colsterworth with whom he met last month. He said:
“Over the past few months, a number of my constituents have taken to the streets to help tackle the growing problem of littering and I want to pay a particular tribute to those constituents in Colsterworth who I met with recently.
“Will the Prime Minister join me in backing the Grantham Journal’s Spring Clean campaign and can he assure my constituents that the Government is doing all it can to help tackle the issue?”.
In response, The Prime Minister encouraged the country to ‘tick off’ anybody they see dropping litter, describing it as one of the ‘basic rules of respect for other people’. He also outlined the government’s work to discourage littering, saying:
“I share his indignation about litter, I do think it is one of the things on which the whole of the country and, I hope, the whole of the House is united.
That’s why we’re doing the Respect for the Outdoor Campaign, encouraging people to follow the Countryside Code to pick up their litter. With lots of people meeting outdoors at the moment because of the pandemic people must follow the basic rules of respect for others and pick up their litter.
We’re putting money into new litter bins and are increasing on the spot fines for littering as this is the right thing to do. I abhor litter and I urge anybody who sees anyone throwing away a crisp packet to tick them off and tell them to pick it up.”
