A leading water safety charity has congratulated Keir Starmer for backing the Mirror’s Save Lives for Sam campaign as they call on the Prime Minister to come up with an action plan before summer.
The PM pledged the government’s support following 19 water-related deaths – including 13 children – during last month’s record-breaking heatwave. Now the Royal Life Saving Society has thanked the Labour leader for getting behind our fight.
The charity’s chief executive Simmy Akhtar said: “We welcome such a strong commitment from the Prime Minister and his Government to do ‘everything they can’ to prevent future drownings. As a Charity with the purpose ‘to prevent drowning, so everyone can enjoy water safely' we are particularly pleased that the PM chose to make this commitment during the Royal Life Saving Society UK’s Drowning Prevention Week.
“This moment is pivotal, and the Prime Minister’s leadership will save lives. He must now convene an urgent roundtable meeting to agree an action plan before the summer holidays, which is when most drownings happen.”
As Britain prepares for another hot spell, Mr Starmer said of the Mirror’s water safety crusade: “Let me firstly back your campaign. Just seeing and hearing of those fatalities during the heatwave was really deeply concerning. As a dad with two kids, particularly when it involves children or young people, it’s really hard I think for all of us to see.
“I just feel so profoundly for the family and friends of those who lost their lives. I really feel it’s hard to imagine what it must be like to lose a child in that way. There were quite a number. I was quite struck by that.”
Speaking at the G7 summit in Evian, France, he added: “[We will do] whatever we can do to support your campaign and to take any such further measures as we can to keep everybody safe, but I think particularly it was the children that unfortunately lost their lives that probably affected all of us.”
Our Save Lives for Sam campaign calls on the government to take urgent action to stop the deaths of 33 children – about the size of a school class – in open water nationwide every year. In just one week during the recent heatwave from May 24 to 31, 19 people died in water-related incidents. They included youngsters Charlie Noble, 16, Muhammed Secka, also 16, Baltazar L’Quy, 14, Mackenzie Swift, 11, and Declan Sawyer, 15. And there are fears more people could lose their lives before the summer holidays, with temperatures set to rise again in the coming days.
Our campaign is named after 16-year-old son Sam Haycock, who drowned in Ulley Reservoir in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on his last day of school in 2021. Sam’s dad Simon said: “I’m overwhelmed with the size of the campaign. I’m in awe. I can’t believe it. The government acknowledging they have to do something leaves me overwhelmed. But now they have to do something quickly before any more tragic accidents happen.
“There seems to be a real hunger, we have to get Sam’s Law through.” The campaign has five demands, including a public awareness campaign, safety equipment at key sites, compulsory water survival lessons at school, the appointment of a Minister for Water Safety, and stronger laws to tackle criminals damaging safety gear.
Labour MP Lee Pitcher, working to push the campaign forward, said of Mr Starmer: “For him to speak so personally, and to commit to doing whatever he can to support our work, means a great deal to me, to Simon Haycock, and, I’m sure will be welcomed by every family who has lost a loved one in our waterways.”
Mr Pitcher, MP for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme, added: “My only ask is that we now adopt Sam’s Law in full. We have the cross-party support, we have the public behind us, and we now have the backing of the PM. There is no reason to wait. Let’s start saving lives.”
He and Simon were lobbying at Parliament this week with Vanessa Abbess, whose 17-year-old son Joe died off Bournemouth beach in 2023. Our campaign is backed by the Royal Lifesaving Society UK, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the Black Swimming Association, National Water Safety Forum, the RNLI and Swim England, plus Olympic stars Becky Adlington and Tom Dean, and swimmer and TV star Michael Gunning.
A report by the Royal Lifesaving Society UK this week showed almost nine in 10 drownings involving children could have been prevented.
