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Thames Water faces collapse as crisis talks take ‘longer than expected’

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/03/thames-water-half-year-profit-leaps-to-nearly-400m-even-as-collapse-risk-remains

Thames Water has been on the brink of collapse for more than a year, struggling under the weight of £17bn in net debt, built up over decades since privatisation. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Debt-ridden utility company warns of ‘material uncertainty’ despite seeing profits rise to more than £400m

Thames Water has said crisis talks to secure its future with lenders are taking “longer than expected” and will drag into 2026 as it faces the prospect of a collapse into government control.

Britain’s biggest water company on Wednesday said it had swung to a profit of £414m for the six months to September helped by bills rising by nearly a third, after losing £149m in the same period in 2024.

Despite the jump in reported profits, the company said there was “material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt” on its status as a going concern. A collapse into government control under a special administration regime (SAR) – a form of temporary nationalisation – “could occur in the very near term” if it is unable to agree the terms of a formal takeover by its controlling lenders.

Those creditors have asked the regulator, Ofwat, and the government for Thames to be let off future fines for pollution, arguing the prospect of hundreds of millions of pounds of extra costs is making a turnaround impossible.

The standoff has already continued for months longer than originally anticipated and the talks were expected to have concluded by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, the company said: “Discussions are taking longer than expected but this is a complex situation and the current phase of the restructuring plan will likely take a number of months to conclude.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/03/thames-water-half-year-profit-leaps-to-nearly-400m-even-as-collapse-risk-remains

Continue ReadingThames Water faces collapse as crisis talks take ‘longer than expected’

Campaigners warn of PFI 2.0 as government backs private funding for neighbourhood health centres

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-warn-pfi-20-government-backs-private-funding-neighbourhood-health-centres

A registration form and a stethoscope at the Temple Fortune Health Centre GP Practice near Golders Green, London

A “PFI 2.0” will divert money away from patients and into shareholders’ pockets, campaigners warned today as the government announced plans to use private finance to fund new neighbourhood health centres.

The government has pledged to open 250 centres as part of an effort to shift outpatient care away from hospitals.

Officials say they will serve as “one-stop shops,” bringing together GPs, nurses, dentists and pharmacists under one roof.

Announcing the plans, Health Minister Karin Smyth warned that government funding “will only get us so far,” citing a £40 billion black hole in the NHS’s finances.

“We need to use every measure available to us, which is why we’re leveraging in private investment to construct some of these centres, making the most of all expertise and every tool at our disposal,” she said.

But campaigners have warned that the use of public-private partnerships could repeat the mistakes of disastrous PFI (private finance initiative) schemes, in which private firms financed the construction of hospitals, leaving taxpayers lumbered with high-interest repayments over the long term.

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-warn-pfi-20-government-backs-private-funding-neighbourhood-health-centres

Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Continue ReadingCampaigners warn of PFI 2.0 as government backs private funding for neighbourhood health centres

Drop ‘dangerous and damaging’ private finance plans for NHS, Chancellor warned

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/drop-dangerous-and-damaging-private-finance-plans-nhs-chancellor-warned

Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers a speech in the media briefing room of 9 Downing Street in central London, ahead of the Budget later this month, November 4, 2025

ACADEMICS and campaigners have called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to drop “dangerous and damaging” NHS private finance plans ahead of the autumn Budget next week.

The government is considering new PFI-style deals to build “neighbourhood health centres” under plans to move care from hospitals into community settings.

In their 10-year NHS plan, ministers set out the possibility of relying on public-private partnerships (PPP) to fund the centres, fuelling concerns that taxpayers could be left footing the bill for high borrowing costs.

Campaigners gathered outside the Department of Health and Social Care yesterday in a protest organised by We Own It to demand a halt to the plans.

The anti-privatisation group has also co-ordinated a letter, signed by 50 academics, which calls on Ms Reeves to “abandon this dangerous and damaging proposal and fund public services through direct taxation or borrowing.”

Signed by figures such as Lord Sikka, the letter calls the arguments for private finance “bogus” and warns Ms Reeves that “using private capital in the NHS is no different from a family buying their home using a payday loan.”

Campaigners have warned about the dangers of risking a repeat of disastrous PFI (private finance initiative) schemes, in which private firms funded the building of hospitals, while high-interest repayments were made over the long term.

Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research found that for just £13 billion of investment, the NHS was landed with an £80bn bill.

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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/drop-dangerous-and-damaging-private-finance-plans-nhs-chancellor-warned

Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Continue ReadingDrop ‘dangerous and damaging’ private finance plans for NHS, Chancellor warned

New data exposes ‘the bankruptcy of Britain’s privatised water model’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/new-data-exposes-bankruptcy-britains-privatised-water-model

 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

Water companies record worst-ever environmental performance in England as serious pollution incidents increase by 60% in 2024, Environment Agency finds

EMBATTLED water companies have recorded their worst-ever environmental performance in England, with serious pollution incidents up 60 per cent last year, data from the Environment Agency revealed yesterday.

Thames Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water were responsible for 81 per cent of all serious incidents, while Thames Water alone saw cases more than double.

Northumbrian and Wessex Water were the only companies with none.

The agency said only Severn Trent achieved the top four-star rating for 2024, while all nine water and sewage firms in England collectively earned just 19 out of a possible 36 stars — the lowest since the annual performance system began in 2011.

The regulator said the decline marked the end of over a decade of gradual improvement.

Serious pollution incidents causing significant environmental harm rose to 75, their highest since 2013.

The agency partly blamed extreme weather, which strained ageing infrastructure, but said “this is never an excuse.”

It also cited long-term underinvestment and poor maintenance.

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/new-data-exposes-bankruptcy-britains-privatised-water-model

April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)

Continue ReadingNew data exposes ‘the bankruptcy of Britain’s privatised water model’

Thames Water want to pollute illegally until 2040

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Continue ReadingThames Water want to pollute illegally until 2040