https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/water-disgrace-labours-contortions-keep-privatised-gravy-train-rolling. Many articles from the Morning Star today.
CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves is right to say that steep increases in our water bills are a “bitter pill to swallow” — especially since her government could stop them if it wanted to.
Maybe its reluctance to take the obvious step — nationalisation — is linked to the lucrative rewards waiting for former ministers who play ball. After all, Water UK, the trade association lobbying for still steeper rises, is headed by former Labour minister Ruth Kelly.
Water UK slams Ofwat’s refusal to endorse its own proposed increases as “the biggest-ever cut in investment.”
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No other country has surrendered its water to private companies in this way and it is unlikely that any will, given that the outcome here has been poisoned waterways, sewage-strewn beaches and soaring bills. Earlier this year, over half the people polled said the sewage scandal would affect their vote. It may well have driven the Tory collapse across swathes of southern and coastal England. An even higher proportion, 69 per cent, want water back in public hands.
Labour says the cost of renationalisation is prohibitive and lands the public with private-sector debt.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/water-disgrace-labours-contortions-keep-privatised-gravy-train-rolling. Many articles from the Morning Star today.
