Therese Coffey has been rinsed on Twitter after she claimed that British bathing waters are “cleaner than ever before”.
The environment secretary made her comments despite mounting public anger over sewage being pumped into the country’s waterways.
Coffey has faced calls to resign after it emerged water companies pumped sewage into Britain’s waterways over 300,000 times last year.
But appearing on Sky News this morning, the minister tried to downplay the extent of the problem.
“Our bathing waters are cleaner than ever before,” she said.
“The water is cleaner than it was in 2010. So, 93% of our bathing waters are excellent or good, that’s an increase from about 70% in 2010.”
But her remarks were roundly condemned on social media, with one Twitter user accusing her of “gaslighting on steroids”.
Another said: “Of all the awful human beings in government, Coffey is possibly the worst of them. She lies with the same brazen alacrity as Johnson but without any of the wit or charm to front it out.”
Others compared Coffey to the former Iraqi official dubbed “Comical Ali” for insisting his country was winning the war even as American troops were approaching.
It is not the first time Coffey has been mocked on social media over the sewage controversy.
Last month she posted a picture of herself beside a beach with the tweet: “4 new designated bathing sites confirmed today.”
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner was among those who piled in by replying to the minister: “Not taking a dip yourself?”
