内容摘要：, who defected to Reform last year, became both Greater Lincolnshire and the party's first mayor.

, who defected to Reform last year, became both Greater Lincolnshire and the party's first mayor.

The government's plan to improve water quality includes introducing unlimited fines for polluters.Penalties from water companies will be re-invested into a new Water Restoration Fund which aims to improve water quality, the government said.

As part of this, it said polluters could face unlimited fines in the future.Sir Ed Davey's fondness for an election stunt saw him take to a paddleboard on Windermere, to highlight aThe Lib Dem leader quickly fell off the board. After drying himself off, Sir Ed said "there is a serious message" behind his dip in the water.

He told BBC News: "Lakes like Windemere are so precious our environment and our wonderful country, so critical to so many people."We need to make sure that the water companies are properly held to account."

The Lib Dems said they would reform water companies into "Public Benefit Companies" and the experts would be expected to hold community meetings to report back on action being taken, if they gain power at the general election.

The scheme is the latest in a series of Lib Dem policies pledging to improve UK waterways.An environmental charity has enlisted women's rugby players to help haul an abandoned van away from a beach in Cornwall.

Locals alerted Clean Ocean Sailing to the mangled Mercedes vehicle which had been left at the bottom of Polpeor Cove's slipway for more than eight weeks after being swamped.The charity used a 50-year-old VW campervan called Cecil to pull the wreck above the high tide line but said it was not powerful enough to tow the wreck away.

A date for the operation has yet to be set, but volunteer and former rugby player Kate Green said a friendship with the Cornish Pirates meant 30 "Cornish - all women - rugby players are on standby to give a hand to Cecil in his final effort".The charity, whose mission is to keep Cornwall's coasts pollution-free, said volunteers spent three days emptying the van which was "partially buried, filled with rocks, sand and rotten seaweed, it was too heavy and impossible to move".