Adrian Ramsay MP, Green Party Co-leader. Wikipedia CC.
Reacting to news that government and regulators have broken the law by being too lenient on water companies that spill sewage, and on the day Thames Water seeks a £3bn bailout, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay MP said:
“For too long billions have been leaking out to shareholders instead of going into fixing our broken water system. But it will be water customers who are expected to bail out this failed model of privatisation through steep hikes to water bills.
“The way to end this fiasco and ensure government and regulators keep within the law is to put failing water companies into special administration and ultimately to bring water back into public ownership.”
Demands for renationalization of water services in England grows as private London water supplier requests bailout
Social justice organizations in Britain are urging judges to reject a bailout request from Thames Water, one of the country’s largest water providers, serving some 16 million people in the greater London area. Campaigners argue that approving the bailout of the private utility provider would allow Thames Water to continue its mismanagement while forcing consumers to shoulder the burden—raising annual water bills by £250 (USD 317) per user.
“This is daylight robbery. There are two people who can stop it, the judge in court today and Steve Reed, the environment secretary. He can protect billpayers from this by withdrawing Thames Water’s license, on the basis of financial insolvency, illegal sewage dumping, or both,” Cat Hobbs, Director of We Own It, told Peoples Dispatch. “Tony Blair’s government defended the public interest when Railtrack went bust, why won’t this government do the same for Thames Water?”
The company warned that without the bailout, it would run out of funds by March next year. However, Thames Water customers predict that they will be unfairly burdened with the costs of the bailout, including the high interest rates that will follow, while company management will face little accountability. The We Own It campaign noted that “it is obvious that the consumer as the sole source of revenue will indirectly fund this amount by way of increases in their water bills.”
While claiming financial difficulties, Thames Water has managed to secure substantial profit margins for its investors—many of whom are based outside Britain and remain unaffected by the declining quality of local water services—while awarding generous bonuses to its management. This pattern is not unique to Thames Water: all water and sewage companies across England have followed a similar path since privatization under Margaret Thatcher’s administration. During this time, these companies have paid out £72 billion (91 billion USD) to shareholders while accumulating £60 billion (76 billion USD) in debt. The result has been a chronic lack of investment in infrastructure, leading to leaks of both water and money.
“The argument for privatization was that there would be more investment, the water would be cheaper, and the service would be more efficient,” independent MP Jeremy Corbyn remarked during a discussion on water services earlier this year. “It’s really worked out well on that, hasn’t it?”
A risk to ecosystem and human health
In addition to financial losses, privatization has led to a significant decline in water safety and quality. Private operators have regularly discharged untreated sewage into rivers and the sea, causing harm to ecosystems and posing a direct threat to human health. Regulators, meanwhile, are unable to enforce compliance with safety standards due to conflicts of interest, low fine thresholds and the fact that the infrastructure itself remains under the companies’ ownership.
Unlike other European countries that experimented with water privatization by outsourcing service provision but mostly retaining ownership of infrastructure, England sold everything. As a result, rather than waiting for contracts to expire and reclaiming control, the government would need to buy back the entire water system from companies like Thames Water. According to We Own It, the initial cost for this process could start around £15 billion (19 billion USD)—an amount the campaign estimates could be repaid within just six years.
Re-nationalizing water services has led to significant successes in other countries, according to Matthew Topham, Lead Campaigner at We Own It. “Paris took back control of its drinking water in 2010 from an outsourced private contract. Bills were immediately lowered, customer satisfaction levels are high, and last year, they were able to reinvest 89 million euros in improving the network,” he explains. He adds that public ownership has also sparked community participation, with cities like Lima, Terrassa, and Paris establishing observatories to give communities, workers, and activists a voice in managing water services.
Campaigners against the Thames Water bailout are calling precisely for a return to public ownership. They argue that this approach would not only lower costs for users but also create space for more investment in infrastructure, improving water quality. This demand resonates with over 80% of the British public, who support the idea of water services being brought back into public hands.
The Labour government, however, does not share this vision. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the party’s program included an ambitious plan to renationalize water services. By 2024, Labour’s election program had moved away from this idea, keeping only the possibility of granting “new powers” to regulators to block bonuses for companies proven to pollute watercourses. As many on the left predicted ahead of the July 2024 election, Keir Starmer’s administration has shown a clear inclination toward privatization, not only in water services but also in healthcare and other sectors.
The final decision on Thames Water’s bailout request is expected in early 2025, with campaigners urging the court to consider users’ concerns and reject the proposal, paving the way for better water services.
The song uses the tune of the 1974 Mud classic Lonely This Christmas, which also topped the charts at number one when it was first released.
The parody version goes: “It’ll be freezing this Christmas, without fuel at home, it’ll be freezing this Christmas, while Keir Starmer is warm. It’ll be cold, so cold, without fuel at home, this Christmas.”
The song then uses a clip of Starmer saying: “She told me that she doesn’t get out of bed till midday because she doesn’t want to turn the heating on.”
[dizzy: That’s Labour Socialist MP John McDonnell wearing the red tie.]
Disabled activists have questioned why a Labour-run department was in the high court this week defending cuts proposed by the last government which would cause “human suffering” among hundreds of thousands of claimants of out-of-work disability benefits.
They spoke during a vigil outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday (pictured) as disabled activist Ellen Clifford and her lawyers from Public Law Project were preparing to challenge the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over a “rushed and disingenuous” consultation on plans to tighten the work capability assessment (WCA).
The plans were announced in the 2023 autumn budget, and would see more than 400,000 disabled people losing out on £416 a month by 2028-29, with many also facing strict new conditions and the risk of benefit sanctions that could see them lose even more money.
Clifford says the changes would be “cataclysmic for Deaf and disabled people in the UK and would push many into destitution”.
Labour’s work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, has promised to make the savings promised by the Conservatives, who pledged to cut spending by £2.8 billion in the four years to 2028-29 by tightening the WCA.
Kendall said the government would make these savings by “bringing forward our own proposals”, but she has yet to rule out the WCA changes.
Tracey Lazard, chief executive of Inclusion London, told Tuesday’s vigil that it was “incomprehensible that the new Labour government is picking up these plans and seemingly running ahead with them in glee”.
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of civil defence workers victims of an Israeli army strike in the Nuseirat camp, at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, December 16, 2024
GAZA’S death toll from Israel’s 14-month attack has topped 45,000 people, health officials said today, as a United Nations-run school housing displaced people was targeted.
Israeli forces bombed the UNRWA-run Ahmed bin Aziz School in southern Khan Younis on Sunday evening, killing at least 20 people, including six children.
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The Israeli military said that it had “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command and control centre embedded within a compound” that had served as a school in Khan Younis.
It did not provide evidence.
The attack followed the targeting of a school in northern Beit Hanoon that killed 43 people and another on a civil defence site that killed Al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed al-Louh and five rescue workers.
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Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 45,028 people have been killed since October 7 2023, in the besieged strip and 106,962 have been injured.
It said that the real toll could be significantly higher as thousands of bodies remain buried under rubble or in areas that medics cannot access.
