2 Sep 2026
Yesterday in his first speech in parliament, the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham made a series of statements that could have been written in a We Own It newsletter!
He talked about how “from the 1980s, this country took a series of wrong turns”, with economic power being “privatised”.
He said “water companies are failing to rise to the climate challenge” and that he will be “relentless” in delivering “ownership and control” to people and places.
He described the water industry as a “leaking monument” to failed privatisation and “a country run in the private rather than public interest”.
When Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, questioned why he brought up Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, he gave a clear, strong answer. He pointed to rising water and energy bills and crumbling infrastructure to explain why Thatcher is still relevant today.
We are INDEPENDENT of any political party. And we are under no illusions about this battle!
Burnham has talked far more about “control” than ownership so far. Public control – in the case of key sectors like water and energy – simply means regulation, which we already have.
*But the signalling from a new PRIME MINISTER is extraordinary.*
How has it happened? If you've been involved in We Own It, YOU have played a huge part in it.
- Your campaign in Greater Manchester won an important victory, putting pressure on Burnham as the Mayor there to take buses into public control with the new BeeNetwork. This huge success has shaped his thinking. Here is Burnham giving credit to We Own It campaigner Pascale at Labour Party conference two years ago.
- For the past few years you have been relentless in your campaigning to take back Thames Water as the first step to public ownership of all the privatised English water companies. You’ve made sure no sneaky backroom deal was made behind closed doors, and now collapsing Thames Water is top of Burnham’s agenda.
Andy Burnham’s words have already triggered a finger-wagging outpouring from the establishment media.
Papers like the Telegraph want ownership in this country to stay exactly the way it has been for 40 years. Change is the last thing they want, and they don’t care if households are paying over the odds for their water bills, energy bills, stamps, public transport fares, if we’re squeezed on all fronts. They want to shut this down, asap.
You can encourage the Prime Minister to stick to his guns, and NOW is the time. Show him that people want him to end privatisation by sharing this blog.
