Rishi: I’m ready to roll my sleeves up!
Chancellor hails Daily Mail-backed blitz on litter... and pitches in by filling up some bin bags himself
CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has encouraged Britons to ‘clean for the Queen’ as the Great British Spring Clean got off to a flying start this weekend.
The national litter-picking effort, organised by Keep Britain Tidy and backed by the Daily Mail, was launched this weekend with the support of the Prime Minister – and now the Chancellor has thrown his weight behind the campaign.
Mr Sunak said: ‘I’m delighted to back the Mail’s Great British Spring Clean. It’s fantastic that volunteers from across the UK are rolling up their sleeves and playing their part in keeping Britain looking its best for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.’
This year, the Great British Spring Clean will run from March 25 to April 10.
As well as providing an opportunity for the country to tidy up in the Queen’s Platinum jubilee year, it will also be a chance to get back to normal after two years of Covid19 restrictions on gatherings, which have made it hard to organise the mass litter-picking action.
Mr Sunak, Conservative MP for Richmond, Yorkshire, has been out litter-picking with the Wombles of Hambleton, a group of volunteers in his constituency.
Formed in 2018, the prolific Wombles collected more than 4,000 sacks of waste in the Northallerton area last year alone.
The group boasts two of Britain’s youngest Wombles – sisters Lillian Smith, four, and two-yearold Rosie Smith.
Organiser Claire Hampson, a primary-school teaching assistant, said: ‘What started out as just me and my family has become hundreds of Wombles and more than 2,000 followers on Facebook.
‘Too often I am told that picking up litter “is someone else’s job”.
‘Unless everybody realises the effect that this is having in their local area and that they need to help right now, the problem is only going to get much worse.
‘Now with anti-litter campaigns, it is starting to be seen as trendy but we just want litter-picking to be seen as a normal thing to do.’
She added: ‘Rosie and Lillian totally stole the show on our community pick around the gardens of a care home in Northallerton.
‘They spent time waving to the residents, which really brightened their day, and have since taken social media by storm.’
Mr Sunak said: ‘We are all aware of litter but until you start picking it up, you don’t realise just how much there really is. What Claire and her supporters have achieved in such a short period of time is phenomenal and making a real difference to the local community. I applaud her initiative and the work of the group.’
So far Great British Spring Clean volunteers have pledged to fill more than 12,772 bin bags of rubbish. To get involved, go to gbspringclean.org.