24 Feb 2026
Dear Rt Hon Steve Reed MP,
I am writing on behalf of members of the public who are deeply concerned by the recent revelations about Peter Mandelson.
It has now become irrefutably clear that Mandelson used his position among senior Labour Ministers to meet the interests of corporations and private profit, instead of the public that this government was elected to represent.
During your time as Environment Secretary, it was revealed that Mandelson’s lobbying company - Global Counsel - was working on behalf of Water UK, the trade body for water and sewage companies [1].
In the same period of time, the Cunliffe Review - which your government celebrated as a once-in-a-generation independent review of the water sector - refused to even consider public ownership as an option.
This is despite the fact that the vast majority of the public want to see water in public hands [2].
Additionally, at this moment, a group of unaccountable creditors formalised as the London and Valley Water Consortium have become the de facto controllers of Thames Water, despite no formal transfer of power being overseen by Ofwat [3].
This raises the question, who has been controlling our water industry, and for what purpose?
In order to begin answering this question, we demand that you follow Wes Streeting’s example, and release all of your messages with Peter Mandelson.
We, the public - who pay for and depend upon our water system - have a right to a system which is run in the interest of people and planet. We are entitled to know if, when and why this right has been denied to us.
We would be also grateful for an opportunity to meet with you to discuss this matter further.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Cat Hobbs, Director, We Own It
[1] ‘Mandelson firm lobbies for TikTok, Shell and water industry in boom under Labour’, the I Paper - https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour/peter-mandelson-firm-lobbies-tiktok-shell-water-labour-3409771?srsltid=AfmBOoozzBkfuIjnQ--pHxLO-0pE5h1-OBPrQHyI2CeZqrvyabsaCGl2
[2] 82% of the public are in favour of public ownership of water. ‘Support for nationalising utilities and public transport has grown significantly in last seven years’, YouGov - https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50098-support-for-nationalising-utilities-and-public-transport-has-grown-significantly-in-last-seven-years
[3] ‘Regulator accused of letting hedge funds control Thames Water’ - FT - https://www.ft.com/content/59f8d402-5717-4c49-83da-3318136166ab
