Danny Dyer in floating poo water protest on Thames

A boat with a large brown poo sculpture sitting atop it. The boat is on the River Thames going under Tower Bridge.

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.

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.

A man, Danny Dyer, walking down the street and pointing in front of him. He is with another man, Kevin McKenna, in a burgundy suit, and a third man is behind them carrying a white box.

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.

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Original source Danny Dyer in floating poo water protest on Thames

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