27 May 2025
As campaigners, we rarely if ever find ourselves at the football. But on Tuesday 20th May we did, joining the jubilant crowds who had come to Crystal Palace's final home game of the season - one rounded off with a fantastic FA Cup victory.
Outside Selhurst Park Stadium in South London, we talked to football fans about Steve Reed MP, the Environment Minister and Crystal Palace supporter who refused to join us at the game just next to his own constituency.
For a fortnight Lois Davis, Steve's constituent, had been asking him to join her at the match. She wanted to talk to him about the water crisis.
A man selling merchandise in a Crystal Palace hat waved his hand in a spiral as he described the downward slide into corruption, the “degradation” in his words, of politics. He wasn’t surprised that Steve Reed had been taken to the football by privatised water bosses, but he was angry.
An older man came up to us, furious about his water bills, describing how they’ve almost doubled recently. He didn’t trust Steve either.
These football fans were echoing things that people up and down the country have said.
Politicians are listening to corporations when they should be listening to people like Lois - one of the 82% of us who think water should be in public ownership.
They are protecting the profits of privatised water companies instead of protecting our rivers, our seas, our bills.
People are right to be furious.
Lois was furious too. She knows that her MP Steve Reed accepted £1786 in hospitality from privatised water bosses. That he had gone to a football match with them. That Ministers meet with the private sector 23 times more often than with consumer groups. He could have come to join the celebrations, and talk with his constituent. But he ignored her invitation, despite her asking him repeatedly.
We were there on Tuesday — but where was Steve?
Here's Lois' final video, from inside the stadium. We also filmed a longer video with Cat and Lois outside the ground. Have a look - it explains in more detail all the ways Steve Reed is VERY wrong about water.
He shouldn't be allowed get away with this.
- This is a politician who says he values cooperative ownership, who is a member of the Cooperative Party. Yet he won’t even listen to the arguments for public ownership.
- This is a politician who has made YOU pay more instead of refusing to allow a bailout of Thames Water by bringing it into public ownership.
- This is a politician who repeats out of date, inaccurate information about the cost of nationalisation, while being wined and dined by privatised water.
We suggested to our amazing supporters that if this makes them angry, then they should write to Steve in his ministerial office - not a template email but a polite, strongly worded letter in their own words - and we would share them on our website. And they did! To date more than 90 people have let Steve know how they feel. You can read some of them in the Comments section at the end of this article.
So why did we do this?
Campaigns like this one our supporters made happen are about building pressure on politicians and journalists.
With every view or share, they and you are showing that people are willing to stand up to the powerful interests of privatised utilities, and win public services that work for people not profit.
And when ordinary people speak truth to power the media gets interested. Lois even made it onto ITV News!
Coverage like that, with our We Own It's Matthew Topham on TalkTV, shows that when you create new ways to hold politicians to account, it gets the message out.
What can you do?
- Sign our petition and let Steve know that you want to see public ownership of water included in the water commission enquiry into the sector
- Join our mailing list and add your voice to the thousands of people who want to see public services in public hands
- Read our blog post explaining why the government's arguments against public ownership of water don't stack up.
Comments
Kaz 15 hours ago
Hey, Steve Reed!
How you doing?
Didn't know you liked football - did you have a fantastic time at Crystal Palace? Must have been lovely smooching in the '£1786' zone, well away from the people on the terraces facing HUGE water bill rises!
Heard you got an invitation to go back to watch them again. But you didn't want to go?
Please can you let me know why -
I'd appreciate that because it's not really making any sense.
Unless it's because of the mega hospitality you were after, rather than to see a good, honest match amongst ordinary people worried about their bills.
Makes me even more shocked you blocked an Independent Commission from even looking into public ownership for our water. Especially as University of Greenwich research shows it would save £3-5 BILLION a year if you and your party actually got stuck in to protecting our national water supply and undoing the years of having our it sold off to profit grasping investors from all over the world.
The UK's water supply is in a mess. Our rivers and seas are polluted and no one is being called to account. Would you agree that this is your job?
Underdogs like Crystal Palace don't always win big trophies. But it seems you believe that Labour - currently looking an underdog party - will remain in power on this policy and your personal greedy 'free ticket' hospitality stance.
Look forward to hearing from you! Very disappointed if I get no reply.
Kaz
Reply
Andy 15 hours ago
Dear Steve, I am so angry at your failure to sort out the water industry in this country. You promised so much before the election: about ending dumping of raw sewage in our rivers and seas, about getting tough with water companies and levying punishing fines which would actually make them change their ways, about prosecuting the water company management who knowingly break the existing laws, with prison an option, because they know it is always cheaper to dump sewage than invest in modern treatment works.
None of this has happened, all we as consumers have got are eye watering increases in our water bills to supposedly pay for the investments the water companies could and should have been making over the last 35 years if they hadn't sent billions and billions of our money to their mainly overseas investors in dividends and paid their top management hugely inflated salaries and bonuses for mismanaging something that drops from the sky.
Why has nationalisation, the only sensible future path for a resource essential to every person in this country, been removed from the list of future options for our nation's water industry? We are the only major country in the world to have sold off its most precious resource to foreign owners who just want maximum return and could not care whether we are all knee deep in sewage and paying ever and ever higher bills.
I think you need to start listening to consumers who have been let down for 35 years. We want clean rivers and seas, we want to see water in public ownership, so it is managed for the benefit of society in this country, we want to see proper long term investment in sewage treatment and extra reservoirs needed as climate change creates more frequent droughts.
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Paul 15 hours ago
Dear Mr Reed,
Why are you taking bribery payments from Water Companies to help them stay privatised?
Kind Regards,
Paul
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Diane Rotherham 15 hours ago
Dear Mr. Reed,
I am writing to say how disappointed I am that you didn’t take up the invitation of your constituent, Lois, to attend a football match with her and to discuss the water industry with her. You appear to be happy to accept football tickets from water companies; what is different about Lois’s invitation?
I think water should be in public ownership, as everyone needs it and it would be much cheaper in public hands. Are you going to ignore me as well?
Regards,
Diane Rotherham
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Geoff Williams 15 hours ago
Dear Mr Reed
I understand that you recently took hospitality from Thames Water to the tune of £1786 to attend a football match at Crystal Palace. But when one of your constituents Liz Davis offered to do the same as part of a campaign for renationalisation of water you did not turn up. Given your consistent opposition to nationalising water companies, it makes me wonder if these events are connected.
Also, I understand that you are a member of the Cooperative Party, which is opposed to privatisation of national utilities. Nationalisation of public utilities, especially water, is very popular among the electorate and if implemented is expected to save the treasury some £3-5 billion. It is utterly baffling why a government that is losing popularity by the day and claims to be so keen to reduce public spending would not support such a policy.
Unless of course they are more interested in channeling taxpayers' money into private hands.
Should you really be in this position of responsibility and power if you are more keen to support private business interests than to help your constituents and the national finances and be true to the people who elected you?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours in disgust,
Geoff Williams
Reply
Pete Neale 15 hours ago
Steve,
Why did you get wined and dined by the Water Industry? The optics are terrible. You’re not stupid so you must have a reason. Please tell us what it was!
Thanks and regards.
Peter Neale (Furious About Water)
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Steven Whalley 15 hours ago
Dear Steve Reed MP,
I am infuriated that politicians, Labour politicians, are listening to corporations when they should be listening to us, the consumers; the people.
These corporations are protecting the profits of privatised water companies instead of protecting our rivers, our seas, and our bills.
People are right to be furious. People believed that there would be a change under Labour but, with water, it's just more of the same.
You are not only a member of Labour, but also the Co-operative Party, and you have accepted £1786 in hospitality from privatised water bosses and accepted their invitations to football matches.
This should not sway your opinion. The Government has recently shown sense in our relationship with the EU and with winter fuel payments. The right decision is to nationalise Water.
Kind regards,
Steven Whalley
Reply
Alan Jarrett 15 hours ago
Dear Mr Reed,
I am very concerned and disappointed to learn that you took the decision to avoid an invitation to meet with your constituent Lois regarding the important topic of water company public ownership.
The optics of readily accepting football match tickets from the owners of a privatised water company, yet apparently refusing similar hospitality from a concerned constituent, seems highly imbalanced?
I am also shocked to be informed that you have blocked an Independent Commission from looking into public ownership of the water companies and wonder what was the justification for that decision? Especially given the very poor history of the privatised companies from a customers perspective and in light of the latest research available.
I am an individual of an age that has lived through public ownership and privatisation. From a customer's perspective the results of privatisation have been appalling without exception. Constantly rising costs, diminishing or non-existent service, degrading infrastructure, water contamination and poor value for money for a commodity such as water which is critical and essential to life.
Profits have been prioritised over people and if you truly believe in Co-operative principles which are fundamentally democratic, public ownership of the services and utilities we all rely on, then it appears from a public perspective your position is opposed to those principles?
As a Member of Parliament and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, you are in a very privileged position, but with that privilege comes great responsibility and accountability as a public servant. I would respectfully urge you to reconsider the situation relating to public ownership of water in a more balanced way and if possible make a little time to engage with your constituent Lois.
Yours sincerely
Alan Jarratt
Reply
Pete Webb 15 hours ago
Dear Mr Reed,
It is with great regret that I see that the leadership of our country has sunk into the depths of depravity expected of a third world country run by dictators.
What governments don’t seem to realise is that people like myself have realised long ago that privatisation without competition does not work. Privatisation is not privatisation if you decide to bail companies out when they are failing with my and other taxpayers money. You as a representative of mine should be working in my interest, not the interest of people who name their own salary and give money freely to shareholders whilst failing to invest into the infrastructure of the industry.
Large companies are becoming so powerful that weak politicians will give way to them. These companies are bleeding our country dry. They pay little or no tax and because most are foreign owned a lot of our money is leaving this country to be invested offshore to look after the few at the expense of the many.
Politicians need to be accountable, you are not prepared to talk to the people who use and pay for water supplies you simply want to take the offers of free tickets from those who sell the water at your behest. I’m no expert but to me it does not look like a healthy arrangement that you have with the water boards.
As far as I understand it a business that is financially insolvent should declare bankruptcy and shut down. I know in your reply to me you are going to explain why this is not the case but I wait with baited breath for your explanation backed up by the relevant figures and not just WORDS.
Yours in e.coli. up to my neck,
Peter Webb MIBiol. CBiol.
Reply
Maria G 15 hours ago
Dear Steve,
What you are doing and how you are behaving is not okay.
Why did you accept tickets to a football match from the owners of a privatised water company, but wouldn’t hear from your constituent, Lois?
I'm shocked and rather disturbed that you have blocked the Independent Commission from looking into public ownership to solve the crisis in England and Wales.
The vast majority of us are struggling to pay our energy/utility bills.
The price increases are all smoke and mirrors. A small percentage of people are making a fortune in salaries, shares and underhand back-scratching behaviour. You cannot bail out a sinking ship where the holes in the ship are the mouths of greedy individuals who will continue to suck the system dry.
We all know Thames Water is suffering from lack of investment but that is NOT our fault! I saw the two-part documentary [on Thames Water]. It's shocking. The millions went somewhere but NOT the upkeep of sewers, plants or pipe repairs, etc. Just into the pockets of greedy, selfish people.
Please don't make out we are stupid, dozy fools who will just swallow this. We know what's going on.
There are people out there suffering, unable to buy food to eat, using food banks, unable to turn their heating on in winter, and now, they've been battered again with price hikes. Thames Water has had one of the highest price hikes and the behaviour of many politicians who are supposed to represent US, along with company CEOs, shareholders and all those with their hands in the public pockets, are operating in underhand and abusive ways.
Public ownership seems like the best and most transparent next step. The University of Greenwich research that shows it would save £3-5 billion a year: https://weownit.org.uk/news/governments-worst-case-scenario-for-nationalising-water-still-leaves-households-better-off/
It feels like those that represent us are focusing on their own needs and wants above all else. We all know that is not the way it should be.
I don't think I'd be able to sleep at night if I were accepting freebies while people and land that I am supposed to support and care about, are in deep suffering.
Your chance to make a huge difference is right here, right now.
I'd a appreciate an honest, non word salad reply if possible.
Regards,
Maria
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