People go into politics because they want to make their communities better. I believe this is true of virtually everyone I have encountered while representing people in Shropshire in one form or another.

MPs have more in common, in terms of their values and seeking to improve the lives of those they represent, than divides them.

There is widespread consensus that we all want to see our rivers and waterways in a healthy state, with clear water providing a healthy habitat and a safe environment for recreation.

This was especially so when I launched a Private Members Bill three years ago to highlight the parlous state of our rivers and the need to clean them up by cutting sewage and other pollutants. I was supported by politicians on all sides.

I have been campaigning on the issue of sewage discharges ever since. I have made it my mission to continue to do so.

There has been an attempt by some political parties to weaponise this issue. Unbelievably in our social media age this has led to death threats to MPs! Politicians need to work together rather than making reckless claims.

I have consistently acted, and voted in Parliament, including against my party whip, on measures to improve our rivers. Earlier this year I voted for new and tougher interim targets for water quality to reduce phosphates and nitrates in waterways, which the Opposition voted against.

I led the Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into water quality in our rivers which reported a year ago. It recommended a host of measures, several of which were included in the Environment Act going through Parliament at the same time, including the requirement to increase monitoring.

Last week Shrewsbury Town Council discussed what could be done to improve the condition of the River Severn. A start is being made in the catchment by Severn Trent Water's Get River Positive project. This aims to secure bathing water quality status for the River Teme upstream and downstream from South Shropshire, where £4.5m is being spent over the next two years to improve treatment and cut discharges. A key start has been made by installing monitors at 19 points along the Teme to establish the condition of the river.

The BBC’s programme last weekend highlighted the horrors of sewage discharges to a wider audience. Most of those Paul Whitehouse interviewed had given evidence to our Committee. The greater awareness of the problem has been enabled from introduction of Event Duration Monitors, which this Government required water companies to install in recent years, these monitors have brought this previously hidden practice into the open since the first data on discharges was published three years ago.

Water companies have now been required to invest £56b in improving treatment over the next 25 years. I am delighted that one of the first places to benefit will be the River Teme here in Shropshire.