Environment secretary Steve Reed put his job on the line over water targets this morning.

Steve Reed tried to make a splash this morning by promising to halve unauthorised sewage leaks in waterways within five years – or offering to resign.

“I’m making an absolute commitment and I’m committed to delivering it,” he said, arguing his job as environment secretary “should” be on the line.

He claimed this is halfway towards Labour’s goal to eliminate them altogether within a decade and announced £104 billion of private investment to help tackle the problem.

The government say this is the first time ministers have set a clear target to reduce sewage pollution, which has skyrocketed in recent years despite public outrage.

Labour also wants to cut phosphorus, which causes harmful algae blooms, in half by 2028.

So Reed stuck by his pledge to leave the role if he doesn’t meet this self-imposed targets.

“Politicians come here and say we are going to do things. Of course our jobs should be on the line if we don’t,” Reed told the BBC.

That sounded like a major commitment from a senior minister offering to finally fix the problem polluting our waterways.

But, as BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg pointed out, ministers have been promising to address the problem for years – and Reed’s promise to halve the leaks also only takes the number down to the levels seen in 2019.

The Guardian found water companies in England had discharged raw sewage into rivers on more than

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