Actor Danny Dyer has delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for water companies to be nationalised after floating a giant poo sculpture down the River Thames on a boat. Dyer and Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Kevin McKenna sailed along the Thames with the sculpture as part of a protest calling for the water industry to be brought into public ownership. The actor, who runs a caravan park on the Isle of Sheppey with daughter Dani Dyer, delivered the petition having previously joined a local sewage protest in Leysdown in September.
Nearly 350,000 people have signed the petition, started by campaigners SOS Whitstable. Rivals actor Dyer and his daughter, who is currently competing on Strictly Come Dancing, joined the protest in September alongside singer Becky Hill, and Surfers Against Sewage. He previously called the quality of bathing water "a disgrace", adding that issues with sewage discharges were "a very dangerous thing".
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously said he wants to see "greater public control" of the water and energy sectors, but suggestions that water companies could be nationalised have received pushback, including from lenders to Thames Water. According to Defra's Bathing Water Quality site, the most recent classification for Leysdown is rated good, based on samples taken from 2022 to 2025. There have been no pollution incidents reported there, the website states.
Speaking outside Downing Street, McKenna told the BBC: "What you see is what you get with Danny, he is a man of passion and he is determined to do this. "He has been meeting with a lot of local people who have shown him the scale of the problem. "The vast majority of the public is really sick of it [sewage discharges] - they want it ended, I want it ended, and Danny wants it ended." A spokesperson for trade body Water UK said it was working to end sewage discharges "as fast as we possibly can".
Southern Water, which supplies water to the Isle of Sheppey, said it was "tackling the root causes of pollution through our record £8.9bn investment programme" and cut pollution incidents by almost a third between 2023 and 2025. "No pollution is acceptable and we're working as fast as possible to bring about the improvements our customers expect", it added. Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, external, on X, external, on Instagram, external and listen to BBC Radio Kent on Sounds.
Send your story ideas to [email protected], external or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Danny Dyer among celebrities at water industry protest Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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