3 Feb 2025
On Monday the 3rd of February, Thames Water's senior creditors will return to the High Court to request the Judge gives them permission to push a further £3 billion of debt onto the company in an attempt to avoid nationalisation.
Campaigners will be outside the Royal Courts of Justice entrance on the strand at 11am for a photo call. They will present a giant cheque showing the £250 a year the bailout deal would cost households each year — before "cutting" it up with a giant pair of scissors emblazoned with the words "public ownership" to show how the bailout can be stopped.
MPs will address the protestors before they march at 11.20am to the Rolls Building, where the hearing will actually take place, before campaigners hand in a giant placard listing the three points that barristers supporting anti-sewage groups will be making in Court:
- The deal is not financially sustainable.
- The deal doesn't sufficiently take account of environmental and legal obligations.
- The alternative to the deal, special administration, is fairer and better for the firms, environment, and public ownership. Special Administration, as explained here, would allow creditors and shareholders to pick up the tab for their debts while the firm is transferred into public ownership.
If the deal goes ahead, it could set a dangerous precedent for water firms to dodge being brought into public ownership through financial and legal engineering. Firms like Southern Water, which are also in financial distress, could soon follow suit.
The protest also comes as the government faces pressure to use its special administration powers to hair cut the firms debts before reprivatising it, so new shareholders do not have to service the existing debts, allowing them to pay more out in dividends.
In response, campaigners will be calling for "permanent public ownership" as stated in the 35,000 petition on Thames Water.
Over 200 campaigners signed up to join the action on Eventbrite, if you want to join please let them know here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dear-steve-reed-take-thames-water-into-special-administration-tickets-1214661127129
