A tanker pumps out excess sewage from the Lightlands Lane sewage pumping station in Cookham, Berskhire which flooded after recent heavy rainfall, January 10, 2024
THE Water Commission’s interim review is a “sham” and “reads more like a sales pitch” to investors, campaigners warned today.
The commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, said it had been tasked to focus on reforms to “improve the privatised regulated model.”
The report clarified it would “not make recommendations specific to any individual water companies.”
Instead, the commission urged the industry to “attract investors seeking low-risk, low-return investment,” which would require “restoring confidence in the stability and predictability of the regulatory system.”
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Founder and director of anti-privatisation group We Own It Cat Hobbs called the report a “sham,” adding: “There is a huge gaping hole in the whole exercise, namely examining who owns our water.
“The government blocked Sir John Cunliffe from looking into public ownership as a possible solution before he even began his review.
“If you’re one of the few people who still believe the private sector will solve the water crisis, you’re probably either a water company shareholder or a government minister!”
England and Wales are among the few countries with a privatised water system, unlike over 90 per cent of the world.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a visit to BAE Systems in Govan, Glasgow, to launch the Strategic Defence Review, June 2, 2025
KEIR STARMER justifies the immense increases in military spending stretching years into the future by reference to “threats” to Britain from purportedly hostile states.
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Who is the real threat here? Both the historical record and contemporary politics show that it is the armed forces of imperialist Britain which menace independent countries across the world, not the other way around.
That is why the arms spending increases — with 3 per cent of GDP going on the military likely only a first step given Nato’s war frenzy — will not only fail to make Britain safer, it will ramp up conflict in many theatres, from Europe to the Middle East to the Pacific.
Starmer claims that he is making Britian “war-ready.” Yet this century alone, while supposedly basking in a “peace dividend,” Britain has waged aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen.
Plans to deploy British forces to Ukraine only underline the point. If this is the record before the country is “war-ready” what can we expect once the neo-imperialists of Whitehall are still more tooled up?
Ultimately, it is the politics of war, not the technology of it, which is decisive. A big army of a peaceful power, like China, is far less of a menace than a smaller one in aggressive hands.
Almost the entire record of the British Establishment throughout the ages shows that it cannot be trusted with large armed forces. Today it deploys those forces, usually at the behest of the US, to enforce a world order privileging British capitalist interests.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Wind turbines at Loftsome Bridge, East Yorkshire, with Drax Power station in the distance
CLIMATE campaigners have condemned Labour MPs for backing legislation that extends massive subsidies to biomass giant Drax, despite the company’s high carbon emissions and forest destruction.
The law, passed in a committee vote on Monday night, allows indefinite subsidies for wood-burning power stations, undoing stricter 2019 emissions standards that would have disqualified Drax.
In 2024, Drax burned 7.3 million tonnes of wood — much from the total felling of forests in North America and Europe — and received £869m in public subsidies while making nearly £1.1bn in profit.
Of the 15 MPs present at the vote, all 11 Labour members backed the measure, while three Tories and one Lib Dem opposed it.
Campaigners accused the government of greenwashing and prioritising polluters over real climate solutions.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy announcing the partial suspension of arms exports to Israel in September 2024 (Parliamentary Recording Unit/AFP)
UK greenlit $169m in military goods to Israel in three months after a partial arms embargo
The UK government approved $169m worth of military equipment to Israel in the three months that followed the Labour government’s partial suspension of arms exports over concerns they could be used unlawfully in Gaza.
Export data released on Thursday shows that 20 different licences in categories such as military aircraft, radars, targeting equipment, and explosive devices, were approved between October and December 2024.
Arms campaigners say the three-month total is more than what was approved altogether under the Tory government between 2020 and 2023, and said the increase was “truly shocking”.
“This is the Labour government aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” said Emily Apple, media coordinator for the UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade.
“It is sickening that instead of imposing a full two-way arms embargo, Keir Starmer’s government has massively increased the amount of military equipment the UK is sending to Israel.”
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
The UK Labour government hugely increased arms exports to Israel while giving the impression of restricting them. The UK government made the announcement of suspending 30 licences on 2nd September 2024.
An Israeli F-35 fighter jet taking off. The suspension covers components for certain military aircraft. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA
Foreign Office says review found ‘clear risk’ UK arms may be used in violation of humanitarian law
The UK has broken with the Biden administration on a significant part of their tightly coordinated policy towards Israel by announcing it is suspending some arms export licences to Israel because of a “clear risk” they may be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
The Foreign Office said a two-month internal review had raised concerns about the way Israel had conducted itself in the conflict in Gaza and that the decision specifically related to concerns around the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.
No definitive conclusion has been reached about whether UK arms export licences have contributed to the destruction in the territory. But the scale of the devastation and the number of civilian deaths caused great concern, the Foreign Office said.
The suspension, which is likely to cause tensions with the US government, covers components for military aircraft, helicopters, drones and targeting equipment.
Mr Lammy also said the decision would not affect the F-35 programme that supplies aircraft to more than 20 countries (except where components go directly to Israel, which are included in the action). Mr Lammy said the global F-35 supply chain is “vital for the security of the UK, our allies and NATO”.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWREUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, held a Parliamentary debate on British arms sales to Israel (Image: Parliament TV)
A WELSH Labour MP has called on the UK Government to suspend all arms sales to Israel to ensure that the UK is not “complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza”.
Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, held a Parliamentary debate on British arms sales to Israel on Monday evening, calling on the UK Government to suspend all arms exports.
During the debate, Witherden described Gaza as a “slaughterhouse” and said that the UK Government is still letting the “weapons flow” into Israel despite the country’s genocidal acts on Gaza.
Witherden also highlighted the lack of transparency surrounding the true extent of UK military exports to Israel, particularly regarding the supply of components for the F-35 fighter jet programme, and urged ministers to outline the specific conditions that would trigger a halt to further exports.
“The Government have claimed that there are red lines that would trigger a halt to exports, but Gaza is already a slaughterhouse,” Witherden said.
“Children are emaciated or dying of hunger, hospitals have been intentionally destroyed and Israel’s leaders vow to wipe out Gaza, and still the weapons flow, so finally, Minister, where is our red line?”
The Labour MP added: “I call on this Government to suspend all arms exports to Israel, to ensure that no British-made weapons are used in Israel’s brutal plans to annex, starve and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
A tanker pumps out excess sewage from the Lightlands Lane sewage pumping station in Cookham, Berskhire which flooded after recent heavy rainfall, January 10, 2024
