Water companies should be fined for pollution into bankruptcy and then renationalised for nowt. The debts were incurred by the management and shareholders_ let them foot the bill!
Their obscene profiteering has gone unchallenged for too long. If chief executives had been threatened with custodial sentences, there would have been immediate action.
Thames Water have taken the piss for too long. Please nationalise Thames water and get rid of them for good! We cannot have our rivers and seas polluted for a moment longer!
All water companies with debts should be dissolved immediately and all/any assets transferred to public ownership. All recipients of bonus payments should be ordered by court to return all payments received which should be returned to the public purse to start funding upgrading of all water systems.
The shareholders have been making great profits out of the privatisation of water. We the tax payers must not accept any terms whereby the shareholders are not held accountable for the dreadful mess they have left behind!
I remember the mantra of Maggie Thacher’s government on privatisation, “I’ll be better for everyone, and competition will drive down prices, knowing full well that sell our utilities to big investors only results in making them richer to the detriment of cost of living and health. Conservative have nearly turn our great nation into a third world country.
Water companies should be find for pollution into bankruptcy and then renationalised for nowt. The debts were incurred by the management and shareholders_ let them foot the bill!
I’m sick of the pollution from the water companies corrupting the environment. We all need clean water and Thames Water, among others, are doing their best to ensure we won’t get it. The CEO’s should not be receiving their immense bonuses and should be cleaning up their mess.
Water companies bosses should lose there jobs and be prosecuted for polluting are waterways. When you fine them it’s us the public that pay the fines 🤮
The water companies have breached the law, poisoned water, polluted our environment and awarded themselves millions for doing it. They should not be compensated for this awful record, they should be behind bars!
The Government needs to act to protect the general public from the harm that profiteering water companies have inflicted upon communities and their environments. These companies have proved beyond doubt that they are not trustworthy and need to be taken fully into public ownership. Starting with Thames Water who are a continuing disgrace and have taken out so much money that they will never be in a position to rectify the situation. Company greed fulfilment should not be the purpose of rising water bills whilst services fail and pollution increases. Please do not be seduced by the offer of a Golden Ticket.
The latest UK national risk register puts water outages as the No risk, escalating this issue into one of critical national importance. With the world getting riskier, allies becoming threats, we can no longer allow a vital national asset & basic requirement for life to be threatened by foreign corporations that put profits above the Health of our people & environment.
Why oh why was this company allowed to behave as it did without any intervention from the regulatory body? Dumping sewage in rivers and the sea is outrageous for obvious reasons and should never never happen…..
I remember when water was privatised, Thatcher's government said that water needed more investment than government could afford, but private enterprise would be able to find it. No, predictably the opposite happened, insufficient investment, and profit extrction instead.
How dare the water company in the south threaten the Government with legal action if it’s nationalised after what they have done to rob the public of decent drinking facilities and polluting rivers and waterways . They are not fit for purpose and only interested in paying their shareholders. Not compatible with public service . Not to be trusted
The Government need to engage competent lawyers to take punitive actions against Water Companies and their CEOs and Directors.
Thames Water has been run fraudulently, in breach of Customer's Contracts and Environment legislation. Customers have paid invoices for removal and treatment of waste water and sewage. Instead of fulfilling this contractual obligation, Thames Water have repeatedly failed to carry out treatment and released raw untreated sewage.
Government need to pursue legal action for each and every past recorded instance of pollution. If the CEO and Directors were fined one or more year's salary plus jail time and a criminal record, for each instance the pollution would stop.
Government need a strategy to control the Water Companies' future behaviour. Just introduce legislation that a Water Company requires a free Government issued 'Water Supply Operator's Licence' renewable annually and revokable at any time that the Water Company fails to operate in accordance with strict performance criteria. When a Company fails to deliver in accordance with strict performance criteria (continuity of supply, fixing leaks, upgrading infrastructure, zero pollution etc) the Operator's Licence should be immediately revoked and all company assets and infrastructure transferred into Public Ownership. Whenever this happens - the Government should have on standby a list of Private Companies who have tendered to deliver water services on an annually renewable contract at a fixed price and fixed profit margin (no bonuses, no taking out loans against infrastructure, under strict contract terms which eliminate any opportunity for ripping off either Customers or Government).
Civilised countries have clean drinking water, clean rivers, clean beaches, clean seas. This country is civilised. American hedge fund managers are clearly not. Give us back our water .
We had such hopes when Labour came to power with an enormous majority. Starmer has been a great disappointment, seeming to fiddle around the edges rather than making the bold changes that we had hoped for. My generation were enthused by Corbyn's socialist policies; a proper Labour party. After the last two Tory-lite years, perhaps Burnham will have the courage of Atlee and Bevan and push through proper Labour policies. Why should a natural monopoly continue to be run for profit, after such obvious failings for decades? Why wasn't money set aside for upgrades and repairs? Why should foreign firms extract and privatise profits leaving us to nationalise the debt? Some people are getting very rich, while we can't even manage our capital's water supply. It's a shambles.
The 'deal' of Privatisation was that the private sector would take on the responsibilities of public services, and could keep any profit they made after maintaining an acceptable standard. Instead, in sector after sector, we have seen 40-odd years of profit extraction being put ahead of unacceptable service. It is long past time that we called in the other side of that deal: just as they happily took all the benefits when times were good, so they must take all the hit when their failings come home to roost.
The utilities have been loaded with debt, and asset stripped by successive owners. To go from a debt free company to collapse is unforgivable and seems to promote a world where private commerce can do anything with utilities, with no recourse from government.
There would be no attempt to secure another deal if there wasn’t something worth fighting for. PROFIT! The people of all political persuasions are being treated as a cash cow for trust funds, pension funds, banks, and investors with scant regard for the service they are supposed to be supplying. It’s not a surprise that very few countries have privatised utilities because profit comes before the service. Stop this now and nationalise, or make it non profit making and cut the CEO’s and SLT pay as well.
Water companies should never have been privatised. There is no competition and each one is a monopoly that has bumped up prices due their failure to invest in the infrastructure over many years when our population has increased and thousands more houses built. They have taken profits and paid themselves bonuses and ripped off the public. Enough is enough. We must clean up their dirty situation and public ownership is the only way
Margaret Thatcher sold the crown jewels when she privatised the utilities, selling them off at a knock down price and the services have got worse over time and costs have gone up. Privatisation hasn't worked. Those utilities used to belong to us and the profits should have been going into the Government's coffers not into some distant shareholder's pockets who don't live in this country. It's a case of out of sight, out of mind.
Our water has become a matter of national security, it is unfathomable that we sold our infrastructure to profiteers who have allowed it to crumble and polluted our rivers and sea whilst taking huge bonuses. It’s criminal, those who’ve been running the boards should be jailed.
New Government or just new faces? Water is precious & it is about time this Labour Government acknowledged this & brought it all, not just Thames, under our control. Maybe they're not up to it?
I agree with the above gentleman, however those same should also not be allowed to increase their customers bills to recover those fines, for every £10000 of fine imposed, they should also be made to legally reduce their customers billing by at least 2% minimum.
It's high time we stop this exploitation of our essential utilities. We've watched as the profits have been leached away off-shore and investment has been entirely absent. They had one job, to manage and maintain the water network. They've completely failed. They don't deserve to continue in control of such a valuable asset. They could've made a profit, continued with the operation and managed the infrastructure and avoided all of this, instead they got extremely greedy. We need rules against this and an example needs to be made. Get these utilities back into public ownership.
These water companies plead poverty yet pay massive bonuses to ceo/chairmen etc and continue to borrow to pay share holders. It’s a complete scam. As binface says make the head honchos swim in the sewage they discharge
It’s outrageous that England and Wales are the only countries in the WORLD that have privatised water, have allowed the deliberate polluting of our waterways with dangers to public health and destruction of wildlife, all for obscene amounts of profit. Stop it NOW
Its not just sewage. My water provider has broken the law (Water Fittings Regulations) in my own home and put my property and myself at risk, if there were a need for emergency shut off; and they are still in denial of it.
We must remember, that if this were really not OK, the government would do something about it. Therefore, all the corrupt behaviour has been OK with the government and Ofwat; hence no prosecutions, just fines that seem to be part of the business model.
The water companies (and others) have been profiteering off us for far too long - not maintaining the infrastructures whilst taking all the money out in dividends and bonuses and then expecting the government to bail them out when in trouble. It needs to stop.
Thames is on such a low ebb, the interest on the bailout is far greater than the government can get which is furthered in keeping costs down by writing off a load of debt in administration or insolvency.
Water is a necessity for life. It should never have been sold off to foreign bidders. We warned that profit would come before quality of service and we were right. Whilst pocketing huge bonuses, the companies have neglected to invest in the maintenance and development of infrastructure resulting in polluted waters, parasites in drinking water and sky high prices for the customer. Enough is enough. Water is vital and should not be for profit for foreign investors.
Thames water is a disgrace. I live close to the Evenlode River and it's polluted. I cannot cross the road in my village without fear of twisting my ankle on a poorly constructed manhole cover. We pay for the water we use but Thames water is unable to produce enough for us to use as we wish.
Water companies should be brought into public ownership without any compensation, as they have been mismanaged solely for the benefit of the shareholders.
Come on Angela, this is the moment, Andy Burnham has swept to power promising real hope and change. Please do your part in bringing our water back in to public ownership and let these dirty privatised creditors get not a penny more.
I agree wholeheartedly with StevenIsle above Thames water also have blood on their hands as a child died as result of imbibing their filthy water containing sewage right into the river & eventually the sea The pollution they are causing is beyond despicable whilst the chief executive & her minions continue to walk away with vast sums & bonuses
Water should be brought into public ownership. We need investment into our national services and a stop to the terrible pollution of our rivers and seas. Water is a right not a money making opportunity for venture capitalists in far away countries.
An essential commodity such as water, which in any case will be a natural monopoly when supplied to a household, does not belong in the private, profit seeking sector. It should never have been privatised, and this piece of ideological fanaticism has produced a disaster in terms of pollution, cost of living to the public, and failure to anticipate the problems caused by climate change.
Privatisation of the water industry has been a disaster - for customers & for our seas & rivers. Thames Water is just the worst of a bad bunch, and should be taken into special administration immediately, to prevent more harm.
The model the water companies have followed is corrupt and parasitic. I believe fines commensurate with their wrong doing could make it cheap to renationalise and that this is the correct route.
As a Thames water customer this company is unfit for purpose. They whacked my bill up from £35/month to £220/month and were impossible to get any sense from. And they fill our rivers with sewage. Disgusting.
Water Provirisation has been another unacceptable disaster thanks to Margaret Thatcher’s legacy. All water companies including Thames Water should be in public hands. These companies have had more than enough money to ensure our infrastructure is properly maintained. Instead they decided to be greedy giving a fortune to Senior staff and shareholders and allowing loads of water leaks. Sewage being the worst. Sort it out Andy Burnham
Water companies should be fined at such punitive rates that they walk away from their contracts, taking their debts with them. Their manageeent should be imprisoned for persistent offending.
Leaving water in private hands is putting lives at risk, clean water is absolutely essential to human life and needs to be nationalised for public safety.
Water is a basic human right and it should never be for profit - when irresponsible companies are allowing billions of litres of water to spill away and not fixing the leaks, or doing repairs, or necessary improvements but are gladly taking profits and bonuses, the system needs to be changed - billionaires and investors should be involved for public good, not their wallets and bank accounts, so if it's taken back with them kicking and screaming, so be it, it must be an improved system where the public is protected and put first - for once!
The whole privatisation scam has ruined many organisations which are supposed to serve the public, the common good, and society as a whole - water chief amongst them. Bring the water industry, starting with Thames water, back into proper, full pubic ownership now
The sewage in our rivers & lakes is a disgrace to our country. The Victorian pipes need modernising & yet shareholders have been given massive payouts for years & not invested in more treatment works which are badly needed due to population growth. This has to stop. Water should be nationalised . No profits for shareholders .
Water services must come back into this countries ownership. The problem with Thatcher was she sold off all the utilities for a pittance. Burnham said on Monday, this country took a wrong turn in the '80s. All utilities must become owned by the people for the people.
Water services must come back into this countries ownership. The problem with Thatcher was she sold off all the utilities for a pittance. Burnham said on Monday, this country took a wrong turn in the '80s. All utilities must become owned by the people for the people.
Private water companies have a monopoly, Thames Water have proven time and time again they have put profits over customers, infrastructure investment and the enviroment. How is it Mr Weston and former CFO Alastair Cochran can get away with mass envirtomental pollution whilst if a member of the public dumped raw sewage you would be subject to unlimited fines and up to 5 years in prison under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Thames water are a bunch of crooks. People are getting really fed up with this the game is starting to be over for these criminals. As a single person with single use in London I pay £64 a month this is an absolute rip off. My neighbour in borough of Barnett Five bedroom house pays £30 a month what is going on with Thames water obvious scan and we the people are sick of paying the greedy crooks polluting and poisoning our water systems that affects all life .
Nationalising water companies is the only way to sort them out. The private sector has failed consumers over the years since the companies were allowed to be privatised. The shareholders should be penalised for their actions and the CEOs fined.
All service utilities should be in public ownership without any private or union interference, run on a marginal profit basis charging a fair price with all excesses put back into the utilities. Legislation must be enacted to guarantee utility companies remain in public ownership in perpetuity, managed & run on the above stated basis.
Self interest rules the world and there is no thought for the common good. It would seem that very few realise that seeking happiness for yourself, has never worked. It is is clear, that “True happiness (which everyone is seeking) lies in making others happy” The best we can do here, for the common good and clean water - is to nationalise!
I think this company shouls be bought back by government for what it's actually worth...how about £1.00. Shareholders have taken profit from a company that was not making any and made inadequate investment. Those in charge of water privatisation in goverment in the first place should also be named and shamed and never be allowed to stand for public office again. The dereluction of duty demonstrated by this nonsense is shameful.
Thay have robbed the public for to long ,it's time to put ALL UTILITIES BACK IN PUBLIC OWNERSHIP WE THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN ARE SICK OF BEING ROBBED MORE AND MORE EACH YEAR SO DO THE RIGHT THING AND GIVE BACK .
I think the idea of fining water companies into bankruptcy is a very appealing one. It may also depress the share values of other privatised utilities and enable further nationalisation.
The government has to wrest control of the water industry from greedy private hands. They have had years of exploitation to enrich themselves while the whole water system was systematically degraded. They get no compensation for this, they have extracted enough already. Time to take it back into public ownership at no public expense. Just vote it into law. You have a super majority. Just do it.
Drinking water is essential to life on earth. Privatisation was supposed to improve the quality of our water supply by investment, but we might as well have engaged highwaymen and fly tippers as we are being held to ransom and poisoned by chemicals and excretia. Our water situation is an international joke in the worst possible taste. Renatiinalise and recoup the ill-gotten bonuses!
In her book, "How Not to Die (Too Soon)", Devi Sridhar, Professor of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University, uses England as a case study in how NOT to organise water supply. The section is titled " 'Profit Over Human Health' Systems".
We were much better when our water was nationalised my father and my-ex husband Both worked for TWA less leaks now nothing seems to function properly except greed and neglect
Years and years of plundering our water for massive payments to shareholders and top tier staff = dying rivers / filthy seas / failing Victorian infrastructure - nobody else would be able to run a business in that way - disgusting greed without a care for customers or the natural world - we must take it all back - most other countries manage their own water - Maggie Thatcher and her ridiculous sell off has been a tragedy and a disaster.
Clean water is a basic human right. It should not be a monopoly where our nature is being destroyed whilst the profits are privatised and the losses are nationalised. I’m sick to the back teeth of corporate greed ruining the lives of ordinary people and wildlife. No more
I find it hard to believe that water companies have been allowed to get away with taking large amounts of money and not doing the job they are paid to do. Who wrote their contracts?
There is only one solution to corrupt water companies public ownership, they have failed at the expense of people and failed to put all the necessary solutions to prevent pollution of our environment whilst taking money to fill their own pockets absolute parasites.
Water falls out of the sky onto the land we all live on. It cannot be owned by anyone. It belongs to us all and should not be commodified to make profit for the few at huge cost to everyone living here and to the detriment of all the creatures living in water courses and lakes. We depend on the natural world. We must care for the precious resource that is every drop of water. This has proved to be impossible when ownership is in the hands of private companies simply seeking profit.
Absolutely silly price rises,going up ridiculously in past 2 years. Can't shop around you just have to pay. Water companies have been paying CEOs and shareholders and it's the customers paying and they don't want to pay fines for polluting. How is this a model for a company? How has this been allowed to happen?
Privatisation has done nothing, and never could do anything in the case of water, to increase competition which was *suppposed* to be the main benefit of this misguided policy. The only people to have benefited are management and shareholders. Reject the Thames Water deal in its entirety!
Shareholders know that they invest at a risk and should not be bailed out. Water companies have given bonuses for poor management and have decimated our rivers and coasts with sewage. Public ownership is the sensible and cheapest solution for the tax payer in the long term and is also in the interest of National Security. Allowing foreign ownership of a crucial resource is madness.
The water companies have proved that privatisation was a life-threatening mistake. Water must be brought back into public ownership asap. Let the companies go bust and prosecute the bosses for endangering public health.
This disaster has gone on too long. It is a legacy of Mrs Thatcher’s plans that took away so much of the public’s share of decision-making and gave it to the wrong people who have made off with the profits, or stayed here to laud it over those who remain.
I can see absolutely no reason for not nationalising all of the water companies. The latter have consistently failed to update the industry’s infrastructure whilst increasing our bills massively. In addition, they continue to pollute our waterways and, in some instances, are failing to provide customers with water at all. I have to ask what exactly we are paying for - it seems to shareholders’ f do dividends and not much else. It is tempting to suggest that the privatised water business as a whole looks remarkably like a scam…
Please Please let's not mess about anymore. Let's bring Thames Water back into public ownership where it belongs. Then bring all the other water companies with it.
Are water bill went up because of the likes of Thames Water,United utilities etc because all these companies only see is profit not the safety of the water environment.
Water should be publicly owned and regulated for the public good as the elemental necessity it is. It is a travesty and an outrage the way it has been used as a means of profiting from a human need and not even keeping it fit for purpose. It is immoral and the failure to protect its cleanliness should be viewed as a criminal offence.
Water is essential to life, is a natural monopoly, and used to belong to us all. But unlike every other country in the world, these vital assets were sold off to asset-strippers who borrowed massively against their value to pay out millions to themselves and their shareholders.
While letting the infrastructure crumble, poisoning our environment, killing our wildlife. They can't even keep the taps running.
Why should they keep the profits but the public take the losses?
Why should we pay for their mismanagement?
It's a matter of national security: Water, a natural monopoly, essential to life. It's time we took it back into public ownership (not just "control").
We should never have thought for one second about privatising water like we have. It's a natural source which is absolutely vital to life. Prime Ministers like Margaret Thatcher rode roughshod over us. Banks should not own our water. It shows the strength of the vicious predators who have been at the top stealing this precious resource for decades. They're soulless and evil.
We should never have thought for one second about privatising water like we have. It's a natural source which is absolutely vital to life. Prime Ministers like Margaret Thatcher rode roughshod over us. Banks should not own our water. It shows the strength of the vicious predators who have been at the top stealing this precious resource for decades. They're soulless and evil.
This is a failed business. Those who invested in it made a foolish decision, so they should lose their money as with any other foolish investment. Simple
The privatisation of the water companies was theft from the tax payer of a public utility.We have paid enough in order enrich investors.Please take back our property and ensure that we pay nothing more.
Agree that the water companies should be fined for their pollution of rivers and beaches to the point of bankruptcy. The executives should lose their homes in partial compensation for their company's loss, while they treated it as their own private piggy bank.
I really hope you’ve watched the documentary ‘Dirty Business’ - it will tell you all you need to know.
I support Count Binfaces proposition that all water board executives should be made to swim in as British River - but I’ll add that it specific river should be chosen by water campaigners.
I also challenge you, Angela, to prep posted to swim by your decisions…
Confidence in having a consistent fresh water supply to drink and services which look after our environment is such a fundamental need and expectation. I strongly believe this can only be achieved by public ownership. We have been very let down by these companies for too long. Services integral to our society and daily lives should be publicly owned.
It’s disgusting that this has happened. Profit should not come before putting your house in order. In this day and age you should have found away to dispose of waste properly. Just because it cost money you have not done this.
The shareholders have been priority so far with their huge profits while the rest of us struggle to keep them in that lifestyle. Any profits should go back into the system to improve it. No more sewage overflows into our rivers, it’s a disgrace.
The privatised water utilities are parasites. Water is the most essential commodity, the source of all life and essential for sustaining life. How can this be in the hands of private companies whose only objective is to screw the public for every penny they can get? Re-nationalise it now along with all other essential infrastructure.
This is the moment to do the right thing for people of UK. The privatisation of water companies has been a complete disaster….there is no benefit for people or nature. Please do not accept whatever deal the creditors are offering. It has to change..we all deserve clean water, rivers, services that are run for everyone: not to line pockets of a few. Please…do the right thing for the people, for our waters, for our nature.
Water companies have made a mockery of customers and the government and particularly ofwat and EA who are clearly complicit and compromised. They should be allowed to fail and be renatofor nothing with the debts incurred by the management and shareholders with no thought to their duties to customers so they must foot the bill!
The customers of Thames Water will have to foot the bill for infrastructure maintenance and improvements that have been ignored for years whilst shareholders have used this essential utility as a mechanism to extract public money and load the company with debt. If we are expected to pay for this, there is no way these vultures should profit.
The continued privatisation of public utilities is the most obvious way that the public can see that members of governments during the past 45 years have taken payments - often in the form of highly paid “advisory roles” in the companies after the minister has left office in return for allowing private companies to provide terrible service at the highest price that they can get away with.
The growing understanding of this mechanism is part of what is making the conventional political parties unelectable. Whilst individual ministers early on this era got away with it, because so few people understood the wholesale theft from the people and their nation, the growing comprehension of this corruption of public life means that increasingly, current ministers do not, at least in terms of reputation and future career succeed - which explains the increasing turnover in high officials, and the fact that they are not missed by us when they have gone.
We know now that the private capture of public utilities is a robbery - the evidence is abundant. The situation with Thames Water is absolutely farcical, and anyone who helps to allow it to stay in private hands will be tainted by their actions. Please do not be a facilitator of it for hoped-for future reward. It won’t work for you.
It’s scandalous that wealthy companies and individuals are making money out of our water companies while polluting the waterways and not attending to the systems in place to maintain safe water for everyone and clean waterways for the future of the planet!
All UK water companies must return to full public ownership. In Deal where I live, Southern Water has poisoned the sea with regular sewage dumps. It’s so full of e-coli that we have not swim in it for two years and counting. In January at Camber Sands in East Sussex, Southern Water’s plant filter broke, releasing millions of plastic beads into the sea, a catasphrophe causing plastic pollution and untold damage to wildlife and it took Southern Water 2 weeks to admit it was their fault.
The water companies are a disgrace and do not serve the public, only their shareholders. Nationalisation is the only answer to save our seas and rivers from non stop pollution.
Instead of letting Water Companies get away with not only being able to still operate after getting into so much debt, and allowing the continued pollution of our lovely waters killing fish and making people ill through using the water, plus giving the Fat Cat "Share Holders" even more money for doing so!!! Thames Water should be put into Special Measures in the first instance and then taken away from this US Company and brought back to Public Ownership. Please act in the interests of the Public and STOP THIS LUNACY. Thank you.
Any debts accumulated by the company must be settled by shareholders or written off. The tax-payers MUST NOT be saddled with debts accrued through financial mismanagement / over-paying bonuses and dividends.
The King of the North must take our water back! The people have paid too much for a poor service. The investors and poor management do not deserve to be compensated!
Water belongs to us the people living here not some shareholders of a company we don’t trust and who have constantly poisoned our rivers etc. We need Water to be renationalised now!
NO PROFITS SHOULD BE HANDED OUT TO SHAREHOLDERS AND INCREASES OF CEO ETC SALARIES SHOULD BE FORBIDDEN UNTIL THEY HAVE BROUGHT TW UP TO MODERN DAY STANDARDS. It’s daylight robbery and extremely unfair that WE have to pay! Shocking!
I, and many others, are furious with the state of our rivers, seas and lack of confidence in our water companies, often worrying if our water is safe to drink! For too long there has been a culture of profits before quality of service and it is unacceptable. I pay a lot of money each month for water services and sewage services-Why? I’m fearful to drink the water out of my taps, I can no longer swim in our filthy seas and the state of our beautiful rivers makes me want to cry!! And I’m paying for this!!!!!
The report on how at least 5 times more water than any hose ban is wasted every single day due to faulty water pipes all across the UK. Also, there have been no new water reservoirs built since the 60s. The water companies need to be in public hands so that the infrastructure is kept up. The private need to fix it all - and if they can't then they must be disolved and come into public hands. We also need MORE RESERVOIRS! It is a joke that with the rainfall we have in the UK in the year we are stuggling for water. Plus, AI data centres need to have a water recycling structure to cool.
I firmly believe that all water companies should be nationalised. Privatisation of this sector has only led to companies putting profit over safety. This has resulted in higher prices for the consumer and increasingly polluted rivers and seas.
Thames Water deserves no more chances. This is Corporate Greed at its worst! No more deals - action - we have no choice - we need and demand that Thames Water and the rest of them are all allowed to go bankrupt. It’s been greed and nothing but greed at the expense of those who are held to ransom - their customers.
Water should never have been privatised. The water companies have all put their shareholders and profit before customers and have exploited their position as monopolies. Nationalise them all now!
Water is an essential for life and hygiene- it should not be a vehicle for profit and wealth and should be considered a national interest. Thames Water is not fit for purpose.
Our Water company, despite consistent pollution, will pay themselves handsomely but increase our bills by 30%. Our pension increases each year but all our bills increase more!
Wholeheartedly agree! Our water systems were flogged off by Margaret thatcher for a fraction of what they were worth and, despite neglect, mismanagement, greed, corruption and shameful pollution, have made fortunes for individuals and foreign hedge funds. Clean water is a basic human need. Our waterways and seas should be healthy and protected. No one should profit from our water!
As a Thames water customer my bill has increased by 50% in three years, in addition I am being expected to fund shareholders and fund a reservoir that will devastate the local area and I am being asked not to use something i am forced to pay for which is a fundamental human right. We are vastly losing control of what we pay for which is a human right. This must stop
I strongly object to Thames Water putting up prices , paying directors bonuses whilst the service deteriorates year on year through inadequate investment in infrastructure.
Renationalise the water companies (and all utilities) without any compensation. They were not Thatchers to sell off in the first place so, in effect, they were stolen from us. Give them back!
This is our chance to take back control of a natural monopoly which should never have been sold off. We need water to live and privatisation has utterly failed. There should be no more chances!
The utilities privatisation experiment has failed the public, especially the supply of water where the so-called advantage of competition is non-existent. Time to return water to public control.
Thames Water has been run fraudulently to serve the interests of the CEO, Executives and shareholders by paying them vast sums of money which should have been invested in the infrastructure; whilst feeling safe in the expectation that whenever the company repeatedly runs out of cash to pay the staff and deliver a basic service to the customers, the UK Govt. will have NO OPTION but to repeatedly bail it out by an injection of cash. The UK Water Industry is a mafia style operation, with the collusion of the regulator. People who worked for the regulator are later rewarded by being recruited into highly paid jobs in Water Companies. The regulator has allowed Water Companies to continue to dump raw sewage and breach their contracts with their customers, with impunity whilst allowing the Water Companies to increase the Customer's Bills. ENOUGH is ENOUGH - Thames Water CANNOT BE TRUSTED and MUST BE TAKEN INTO PUBLIC CONTROL NOW. There should also be a criminal investigation into the Company's operation and the collusion of the regulator's staff (and former staff who now work in the water industry).
The Government MUST ENSURE that the Customers are NOT made to pay for the Water Industry's fraudulent operations and the Regulator's TOTAL FAILURE to control them.
TAKE Thames Water INTO PUBLIC CONTROL NOW, to send a clear message to all other Water companies to clean up their acts.
Water Companies can be left in private ownership - just make it illegal for them to operate without an annually renewable UK Government Operating Licence, with strict performance criteria attached and strict limits on when and how much can be paid in salaries, bonuses and dividends; strictly linked to the companies performance against strict criteria (sewage pollution, fixing leaks, maintenance and investment in new infrastructure).
When a Private Water Company fails to meet it's set criteria, it's Operator's Licence can be revoked and all assets transferred to UK Govt. Water (without penalty). An under performing Private Water Company should be treated just like an unroadworthy / untaxed / uninsured car being driven on the road - it should be immediately confiscated and crushed.
UK Consumers have been forced to pay too high Water Bills and have been FAILED by successive Governments and the REGULATOR, who have allowed Water Companies to get away with fraud and asset stripping by borrowing large sums of money using the infrastructure as security and channelling that money out of the company to be paid as dividends.
Water should never have been privatised. It’s a utility that needs to be in public hands. Not with shareholders taking profits. Surely the general public are the share holders of a necessary resource.
You have literally drained Thames Water from its ability to serve its customers - the public who owned it back in the day. We have already paid for your personal financial gains, why should we pay further for your insidious greed and lack of ethics and governance.
Thanks for listening and taking action to take this essential service back into public control. Water management has to be the most important asset going forward and we will need every penny to rebuild the infrastructure necessary to supply clean water for all of us without damaging the land and waterways we live with. Please ensure that this is a cross party matter and ensure that this industry can never be a profit making machine going forward and all money paid by the public is used to maximum efficiency.
Water is too precious a resource for it to be in the hands of people simply wanting to make a profit. Water is needed by everyone and every creature and plant. It is the lifeblood of our planet and needs protection not wasting or polluting. Please help us to cherish it, for all our sakes.
The water companies should never have been privatised - water is an essential for living and we have no choice in who we choose to supply our water. It is just a money making project for the rich at our expense. ALL the water companies should be taken back into government control and no compensation should be paid. The shareholders have been bleeding us dry for years.
Water is a precious resource and should be brought back into public ownership and never be in the hands of private investors who will not protect the interests of those who depend on it staying accessible, clean and affordable.
Please protect our water, our most precious resource on this planet. It is for everyone, it is not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit, or wasted and polluted.
We were told private companies can run services better and cheaper than the government, this is not proven to be untrue. Costs have risen, profits have risen, but water quality and service have fallen. Our water is polluted or drinking water not secure, End privatisation, water is not for profit, it belongs to us all.
Public Utilities should not be owned by private companies whose role is profit for shareholders. The history of the last decades since privatisation has clearly demonstrated this error.
Labour must keep explaining to the public that Privatisation of any public service is a Lie. (Its good for a few rich shareholder parasites but at the direct expense of the general public) The water companies should be held up and publicly exhibited as the proof. Then look at the privatisation of the NHS. Eye services and ear services already gone to self interested private companies, among many others
Water which is fundamental for life itself should never be privatised...it must be under public iwnership in order to assure essential infrastructure has adequate investment to assure uncontam8nated rivers and waterways, and to assure that there is no wastage. Currently burst piping is causing water shortages... we do not this problem in scotland where water is publicly owned !!!
Water needs to be made public owned too much is going to share holders and not enough to environment The standard has dropped and rivers are being poluted drinking water has been getting undrinkable
More broadly, in addition to the sewage discharge disgrace across all the water companies we have the loss of 15% or so of drinking water from leaking mains at the same time as hosepipe bans. Rather than fix leaks the companies have reduced water pressure so that our supply pressure is FAR lower than in other countries and we can’t have a decent shower. If British Gas can supply gas without leaking it every where it should be MUCH easier not to lose water.
Profits before services is their mantra. Water is a right, not something which can be bought & sold by billionaires to fund their increasingly extravagant lifestyles
Thames water has failed to keep up with repairs and only increase prices above inflation for money orientated investors this should be a public service run by public all utilities should be
We’ve got storm tanks overflowing in a heatwave, and the rivers are too full of phosphates to top up the reservoirs. Meanwhile shareholders and top execs are getting rich on dividends and bonuses, paid for by our sky high bills.
Our rivers have a voice! It is time to stop polluting our waters! We are killing the wildlife and our children are unable to enjoy the nature that they deserve! I am ashamed looking at our dead dirty river, that I learnt to swim in, and catch sticklebacks as a child. What sort of country are we to continue to pour untreated sewage in our rivers and oceans? Profit before nature? How did this happen? Margaret Thatcher’s government had no right to sell our water! 💦 You can now put this injustice to rights if you wish to! Please do!!
It is quite clear that privatisation is a disaster (as all the intelligent and sensible people said when Thatcher started this appalling process). ALL public utilities should be back in public hands, not just Water.
The privatisation experiment has failed the users in many sectors: water, post, railways, energy. All investment ‘products’ come with a warning before an investor commits their funds: ‘the value of shares can fall as well as rise’. The UK is the only country with privatised water, a NATURAL RESOURCE. Missing this opportunity to renationalise Thames Water will guarantee a huge defection of Labour supporters to the Greens in the next election.
Who in their right mind allows FOREIGN investment companies to own a vital service like water without which we die!!!. Take back ALL services that belong to the public ultimately since they fund it through their bills. Thames waters owners have a shameful history with complete disregard for its customers and for the UK environment, their only goal, profit. For once lets put people first. But unless Thames water improves its infrastructure, builds new reservoirs, improves the ones already in service and stops giving itself massive pay rises and bonuses it is on a slippery slope with little chance of continuing. Already in debt by billions, Thames Waters foreign owners have fleeced the UK population without once putting back profits to benefit the people OF THIS COUNTRY. Don't even question the ethics of taking back what rightfully belongs to the people of this country, it should not be used as a tool to make money for foreign investors!! Insanity
Long overdue to stop being mugged by these greedy parasites, who want more whether they’re in profit or, more likely, in self created debt. All while directors and shareholders continue to milk the public while allowing river lake and sea pollution without punishment.
The behaviour of the management and shareholders of Thames Water has been predatory and venal. They are a disgrace and should no longer be allowed to pollute our waterways whilst constantly increasing their charges to consumers!
The water companies have proved themselves absolutely useless at protecting our waterways from pollution. How on earth have they managed to accumulate so much debt. They are not fit for purpose. Please don’t allow them any leeway. Take them back in to public ownership.
For this or any other water company to cling on for grim death to their autonomy simply because of their and their own shareholders interests is not only obscene but is a violation and destitution of their public trust and responsibility.
Clean water, properly managed, is a basic right and something I feel strongly should be in public ownership. An elite should never profit from other people’s suffering and poor health.
This ‘neoliberal’ farce has gone on long enough anis a proven failure. Please take back the Thames Water disaster and recognise the folly of privatising monopolies.
The pollution created . And rising costs for the customers paying for it is fix is only one of the failings,.that is unacceptable while they are claiming huge bonuses for the share holders, that should have been spent on keeping the environment , rivers and seas clean , that create a health risk for the public that are expecting and paying for it .
we want our utilities nationalised we are fed up with the exorbitant charges we are charged by private utility companies, the only care about their shareholders.
There isn't a single privatised utility that works better under privatisation. The public were conned and are being ripped off constantly. Take Thames Water back into public ownership and prove to all privatised utilities you mean business. Do not use taxpayer's money to bail them out. Tie up public ownership so tightly that utilities can't be sold off again once taxpayers' money has improved them.
The regulatory body should be disbanded and their jobs given to people who understand how important their work is. As a member of the public I rely on appointed regulatory bodies to do the job for which they are appointed.
Not supplying the customers with what they are paying for . A safe clean environment that is not a health risk to them that expected it as they face increasing bills for a failed fix,
There is no justification for private ownership of any public services, especially one as vital as Water. We cannot be held to ransom, be overcharged for a poor and dangerous service, and then be expected to pay more for it to be put right.
For once, please strike a blow for democracy against the robber barons who have systematically asset-stripped an essential resource that should never have been privatised. Water is an essential to life and decency and cannot be entrusted to those who seek to exploit everything in search of more profit for the few.
Privatisation was always a scam! How can a utility that has to pay shareholders be cheaper? Just corrupt MPs taking bribes to sell us down the river! It's got to be stopped now!
A law should be passed to bring in auditors to discover if shareholders have made back their initial investments as shareholders, and if they have they should not be compensated.
The current situation is ludicrous. Privatisation was about channeling money to the wealthy and wealthy corporations, many owned offshore. What is needed now is bold action to make water work for the people of this country, delivering significant investment in infrastructure, cleaning of rivers and the sea and reduced cost for consumers. Bold action. Management not oversight.
Water companies should pay such a high fine/penalty equal to at least the total dividends and bonuses paid out of their funds since they were privatised to put our money back where it belongs- investing in the infrastructure and new technologies.
Thames Water shareholders have milked the public for far too long with plenty of money going into their pockets rather than being used to improve vital infrastructure which is absolutely shameful.
We're just sick of seeing the services and quality of the water worsening while the bills get higher and higher. Creditors deserve to loose control. They got themselves in a muddy ditch and it's time they stay there. Let's take back control!
Privatised water companies should be the same as water companies in Scotland , owned by the people run as a private company so that profits go back into the company and not shareholders pockets.
Please do not allow Thames water creditors to retain control of water authority. They have forfeited the right to control a public utility by allowing the water supply to be polluted and without regular and necessary msintenance.
The behaviour of these companies is criminal. Or money has been taken and our environment has been devastated. Rivers are a danger to life and we now have a hosepipe ban because no provision has been made for the inevitable effects of climate change and hot weather. Managers should be prosecuted!
For too long water companies have been allowed to get away with horrendous pollution issues. I live in the South West where we already have the second highest water bills in the country but too few reservoirs. We used to have blue flag beaches but I believe this standard has now been removed. Water companies need to be held to account for causing illness ( and even death) to bathers using seas and rivers, lack of maintenance in treatment works, lack of building new infrastructure to cope with all the new housing developments and causing disruption to water supplies as in the Devon Brixham incident of 2024.
The water companies have caused this problem so they should pay. The water companies should be brought back into public control and there should be strict regulations, to ensure thid pollution from sewers does not happen again.
I very strongly agree that all water companies should be nationalised. Those that are profiting from their investments should loose their money when we run our water companies.
As part of an army of community water-testers, I'm fed up with seeing our rivers polluted over and over again, while the companies charged with protecting them treat the public as a cash cow, creaming off record profits and bonuses while neglecting the work we pay them to do.
These shareholders have milked privatisation to death by failing to invest in the necessary infrastructure and loading Thames Water with debt through pure greed. Such behaviour must have serious consequences. Re-nationalisation MUST be that consequence.
It’s time that the water companies share holders and executives were brought to justice. The pollution and poisoning of customers needs to be paid for from their profiteering. Do not be fooled by whatever promises they make for the future - they need to be punished and pay reparations for their wanton actions.
I don't understand How a corporation, usually not British ,can take over a company ,load it full of debt, whilst paying executives,and shareholders vast amount in salaries and dividends, not fulfill their obligations to the customer When tasked can say " OK give us a pile of money ,take over the mess and we will go away "
Water (and energy) companies should never have been privatised in the first place. You have an opportunity to right this wrong and national disaster - we urge you to please do the right thing.
Privatisation of water was a disgrace. It’s a monopoly. The private companies are only interested in their shareholders. It’s racketeering at its best! Consumers, and the environment, are being fleeced to line the pockets of corporate big business. It must end!!
Private Equity take risks & get rewarded. They’ve taken £Bn out to reward themselves & delivered year on year worsening services. The current Ofwat monitoring framework is not fit for purpose. Our rivers are dying, polluting discharges are not punished. The whole system needs a radical rethink.
Our privatised water industry has become a cash extraction device that is harming people, the environment and the legitimate economy. It could easily be turned from a liability in private ownership, to a valuable public asset, wisely spending bills from 62 million people to create a clean and healthy future. It won't happen in private hands.
Foreign ownership, foreign profits, foreign mismanagement and yet we pay their fines through our water bills. Get a grip government and protect your electorate from this foreign invasion. Do your job.
Public ownership of water companies is the only way to control excessive sewage discharges and maintenance of clean rivers and waterways. Our health & environment are too important to leave to wealthy CEO’s who only care about money.
Public ownership is the most viable option in terms of security, cost and can be a source of revenue for the state . Can you get back hold of the profit making land registry whilst you are at it please?
Capitalism is supposed to reward success not failure. All of our water companies were handed over without debt and substantial assets . These have been stripped and sold with debt substituting real value.
Utilities should not be privatised, experience has shown that it doesn’t work and that so called regulators are toothless. Bring back into public ownership and stop ruthless profiteering
Water is a precious and essential resource. Private companies have been given far too long already to show their lack of commitment to the public who need this resource. Please put water back into public ownership.
After decades of prioritising shareholder dividends over essential infrastructure, Thames Water has collapsed into a cycle of systemic failure characterised by a staggering £15 billion plus debt mountain, industry-leading leakage rates, and the chronic discharge of raw sewage into the River Thames. Placing the utility into Special Administration is the only viable path to strip away the "brass neck" of financial mismanagement, ensuring that public health and environmental protection are finally prioritised over protected creditor returns and corporate negligence.
Water companies are a disgrace, they should all be brought back into public ownership. The private sector has again emphasised that profits for shareholders is the priority and not providing their contractoral obligations , truly corrupt and disgraceful. The management should be stripped of the money they have paid to themselves for stealing from profits they never actually made, call it fraud or corruption it’s totally unacceptable.
The UK was once widely know as the 'dirty man of Europe', then we joined the EU and had to stop the discharge of untreated sewage into rivers and onto beaches. Numerous 'Blue Flags' were earned in coastal resorts around the UK. Then we left the EU, investment fell, and the dividends to shareholders matched the sum needed for restoration of standards; about £76 billion. This is shameless profiteering. They had their chance and greed prevailed, now water must be returned to public ownership.
I think it is now time to return this company to the public domain. A sum of £20 billion debt is surely one step too far. The share holders should not reap benefits from poor management and blatant disregard of the problems they are creating re the sewage discharges and pollution. A government golden share is not an option.
Water is an essential for everyone and should not be owned or controlled by a private group of people. It must be controlled in the interests of the public by the government.
I'd much prefer an inefficient public sector water corp, where PAYE staff pay their taxes than see that money being stripped out through dividends and debt structures (often offshore), by overseas private equity. Not only do UK customers benefit but also the the state & exchequer. Privatisation of monopoly sectors has failed, period. The debt these companies have racked up is a national disgrace. Prof David Hall from Grenwich University has publicly said that ALL the money invested has been raised by bill payers alone anyway since privatisation.
It is frankly unbelievable that something as crucial to our continued existence as water should ever have been put in the hands of private companies who exist for the profit of shareholders. These companies have delivered nothing and been repeatedly bailed out at the public’s expense. All of them should be immediately nationalised
Thatcher and her greedy cronies didn't ask the people of this country, could our precious publicly owned utilities be sold off. Our NHS is the next to go. I pray our new government puts a stop to all this. Bring it all back under one umbrella. Make the private companies pay, take it all back for nowt.
Private companies should be nowhere near public services. The business aims are completely incompatible. It's been shown in every sector that private companies siphon off public funds to line their pockets and the public is always worse off. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is either insanity or wilful negligence! Reject the deal and bring TW into public ownership.
Water is a human right; not for profit! All the water companies should be dissolved and all water infrastructure taken into public ownership. Why should we take on their debts? We have been paying hefty bills all these years and they have been lining shareholders pockets with fake profits, while failing to invest in proper infrastructure to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency or even just deal with our sewage hygienically,
I’m sure following the recommendations in this letter will not only lead to the best outcomes for customers of Thames Water and their future provision but will also reflect well on you as a new minister and the Burnham government. A bold move and the right move.
I want profits from essential utilities to be used to improve those utilities - not paid out to hedge funds, shareholders and excessive management salaries and bonuses.
Water is a basic essential for all life. It should be controlled and run by the public for the publics benefit, and not by private corporations for profit.
Private ownership prioritises profit rather than investment to meet the needs of those who rely on these services. They should be publicly owned and run for the benefit of the public. You have the opportunity to do this - please don't waste it.
Water is a human right; not for profit! All the water companies should be dissolved and all water infrastructure taken into public ownership. Why should we take on their debts? We have been paying hefty bills all these years and they have been lining shareholders pockets with fake profits, while failing to invest in proper infrastructure to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency or even just deal with our sewage hygienically,
No more 'hedging' and private in-equity. The results of this 1992 privatisation experiment are now plain to see, and we don't need to prolong the agony. Putting Thames Water into special administration is an opportunity to finally end one of the most shameful episodes in our economic history.
We already know what a disaster public services in private hands has been over the last forty years. The only cure for this plague of sewage discharges is to put public services in public hands - which they never should have left in the first place!
Having access to clean. sufficient water is a human right and clearly private companies have proved unable or unwilling to provide this, using profits to pay shareholders, managers and investors instead of investing them in maintaining and improving access to such water
Whatever happened to the principle of the polluter pays? The water companies are getting away largely unpunished. Self-declaration of incidents needs to be backed up with effective enforcement. If the EA doesn't have the staff I believe there are a lot of people who would welcome a healthy outdoor job monitoring the environment, paid for by the fines revenue.
Thatcher wanted funds to pay for the Falklands War and also to stifle the Trade Unions with so many strikes. Similar thing with Council Houses! Net Result = Money making opportunities for Private Companies/Enterprise. Massive profits before investment to improve Services but at the cost to the end users - US (the essential public user)! Share Dividends and Bonuses should be IMMEDIATELY BLOCKED. Plus, I agree with many above - WHY allow UK essential services Company Shares to be owned by Non-UK people or Countries? Come On Andy - please sort it out!
All profits from essential utilities should be used to improve those utilities - not paid out to hedge funds, shareholders and excessive management salaries and bonuses. Putting this services back to public ownership is the way forward. Judging by the lack of respect for the service they provide by avoiding and not keeping up with the standards that is required says it all.
This is the most important area for privatisation, as each water company has a complete monopoly compared with other utilities such as electricity, and the most important element is the treatment of sewage. This should be the first group of companies that government deals with. Our rivers, seas and lakes are precious environments that need protecting from greed and exploitation and those who conspire to break the law and pollute should be held personally liable through the courts.
Water is a basic right of life, not a money pit for shareholders and overpaid executives who quite clearly have absolutely zero interest in providing a quality service. I would think supplying the people of England with clean, affordable water, and protecting our enviroment far outweighs lining the pockets of the few. It's time to see who Ofwat and our Politicians truly support. Is it greedy shareholders or the people of England, our enviroment, and the wildlife?
As a nation it is vital we take back control of our water supply and improve these utilities. The current situation is horrifying and untenable. Water supply and sewage management should be of the highest importance on any government agenda.
My late father was a Thames Water emergency inspector, he loved his job, but as long ago as 1996/97 he was telling how he was disgusted by what was going on ie., Thames would rather pay the gov fine than do the repairs and maintenance, because some bright sparke on Thames board of directors saw it as a way of making profit for their shareholders...and all this time later look at the mess it's in...profit over services - NO THANK YOU
Thames is not the only water company I have run afoul of. For three years, after my last swim in the sea in Hove, I watched as Southern took more money and poisoned our beautiful beaches. Now for 12 years I have withstood weeks without water, bickering over low pressure, and nearly complete traffic lock-in by Thames Water incompetence. I have no sympathy for private water companies and no trust for any government that gives in to their threats and deceptions.
Thames Water is a Success. It has been extremely well run and has been highly successful in delivering it’s Business Objectives; to maximise profits by minimising service delivery and any investment; to use the infrastructure as collateral, against which to borrow the maximum possible loans; to pay the highest possible dividends; to reward the CEO and Directors with the maximum possible salaries, topped up with undeserved bonuses; to extract as much money as possible from the Company, safe in the knowledge that the Government cannot let the Company fail and will have to repeatedly inject cash to save it from bankruptcy.
Successive Governments have failed to act, allowing the Water Companies’ behaviour to escalate and for them to increase Customer’s Bills; whilst continuously releasing raw sewage and failing to fix leaks and invest profits into infrastructure.
Thames Water have repeatedly failed their Customers, the Environment and the Government. This behaviour WILL CONTINUE for as long as they are allowed to continue operating.
The water companies make the Mafia look like a benevolent charity organisation. It is unbelievable that they are allowed to get away what they are, and more importantly are not, doing. They should be banned from being allowed to increase bills, in fact told to decrease them significantly or face public ownership. There should be a group prosecution of all water CEOs since privatisation
The standard of the quality of service your customers receive is dreadful, and your maintenance is pitiful. You cannot be allowed to continue raking in the profits.
There isn’t another country in Europe that has a privatised water service & for good reason… look at the disastrous sewage filled rivers & sea resulting from Thatcher’s misplaced obsession with privatisation. OF COURSE it needs taking back into public ownership & NO compensation given to the companies that so shamefully mismanaged it.
It's obvious Thatcher LIED and it's long past time to TAKE back everything that Pinochet-loving psychopath and the crooks that followed her STOLE from the public - water would be a good place to START!
The Government needs to ACT NOW - show the corrupt Water Industry that they will no longer get away with leaks, pollution and their other unacceptable practices.
1) No more chances for Thames Water. Prosecute the Company, CEO and Directors for each and every instance of pollution over the last 10 years, under the existing legislation (Environment Protection Act) and press for maximum fines and jail sentences for those controlling the Company.
2) Immediately introduce legislation, requiring Water Companies to hold a Government Issued 'Water Supplier's Operators Licence' requiring them to operate within a strict set of rules (including fixing leaks, NOT leaking untreated raw sewage, continuity of supply, the percentage of their annual profit that they MUST invest in repairs and new infrastructure, strict limits on the amounts they can pay in dividends and Executive Salaries etc, No Customer Price Increases for 10 years). When a Water Company fails to meet any of the criteria required by their licence it should be rescinded and all of the infrastructure and Customer base transferred to UK Plc, without payment. The Government should have on standby approved Contractors to operate under a fixed price annual contract, with a fixed profit margin.
The above is a mechanism whereby Water Companies can be taken back into Public Control and the infrastructure taken back into Public Ownership whenever a Water Company fails to operate correctly.
The water companies have shown over decades that they will use their monopoly to syphon of profits while completely ignoring the needs of the country and the people. They have used the money taken from us to pay the risible fines imposed upon them. Their management and shareholders have been insulated from the effects of their greed and mismanagement. I really hope that the PM acts to rectify this by nationalising them. If he does not, he'll prove to be just another bloody politician devoid of principles.
Our world today is the product of conniving leaders shuffling money into their pockets from hard working people, and private water is one of many examples of just how corrupt and opportunistic these thieves are wiling to be. It’s time to take them down. Prison sentences, debt collectors, the lot. They’ve stolen from us and here we sit in A DROUGHT of their doing. Disgusting.
Why is the CEO receiving compensation of over £1,000,000 a year?? The only way Thames Water makes any money is by increasing bills. Why is he being rewarded for that?? Why are we being subjected to a hose ban by Thames Water when they persistently fail to mend leaks in a timely fashion- eg recently we had a leak in our road for over TWO weeks with a fountain/river of water before it was fixed - multiple times more water than a hosepipe would use to water the garden. Greed and corruption in the extreme and we are the ones who are expected to pay.
I cannot believe that I am commenting again on our water!!!! I'm a pensioner and I'm so worried for my grandchildren growing up in a society of greed and mistrust! These water "bosses" need to take a long look at themselves (if they can) and do the right thing and make our water pure and drinkable again. Not much to ask for ... we should not be paying for water that can make us ill. Clean it up!!
Comments
Steven Isle 2 weeks ago
Water companies should be fined for pollution into bankruptcy and then renationalised for nowt. The debts were incurred by the management and shareholders_ let them foot the bill!
Reply
Alan Carn 2 weeks ago
Their obscene profiteering has gone unchallenged for too long.
If chief executives had been threatened with custodial sentences, there would have been immediate action.
Reply
Ian Miller 2 weeks ago
Enough is enough. What could possibly be holding you back from doing the right thing ??.
Reply
Marion Judd 2 weeks ago
Thames Water have taken the piss for too long. Please nationalise Thames water and get rid of them for good! We cannot have our rivers and seas polluted for a moment longer!
Reply
David McKay 2 weeks ago
All water companies with debts should be dissolved immediately and all/any assets transferred to public ownership. All recipients of bonus payments should be ordered by court to return all payments received which should be returned to the public purse to start funding upgrading of all water systems.
Reply
Jenny Dyson 2 weeks ago
The shareholders have been making great profits out of the privatisation of water. We the tax payers must not accept any terms whereby the shareholders are not held accountable
for the dreadful mess they have left behind!
Reply
Jamie O’Brien 2 weeks ago
I remember the mantra of Maggie Thacher’s government on privatisation, “I’ll be better for everyone, and competition will drive down prices, knowing full well that sell our utilities to big investors only results in making them richer to the detriment of cost of living and health. Conservative have nearly turn our great nation into a third world country.
Reply
Sylvia Kelly 2 weeks ago
It is obvious that the present owners are incompetent and don't deserve another attempt, it's a possibility they could make matters worse.
Reply
norman shrigley 2 weeks ago
Water companies should be find for pollution into bankruptcy and then renationalised for nowt. The debts were incurred by the management and shareholders_ let them foot the bill!
Reply
Jennifer Perera 2 weeks ago
I’m sick of the pollution from the water companies corrupting the environment. We all need clean water and Thames Water, among others, are doing their best to ensure we won’t get it.
The CEO’s should not be receiving their immense bonuses and should be cleaning up their mess.
Reply
Geoff Cain 2 weeks ago
Water companies bosses should lose there jobs and be prosecuted for polluting are waterways. When you fine them it’s us the public that pay the fines 🤮
Reply
Peta 2 weeks ago
The water companies have breached the law, poisoned water, polluted our environment and awarded themselves millions for doing it. They should not be compensated for this awful record, they should be behind bars!
Reply
Sue Thomas 2 weeks ago
The Government needs to act to protect the general public from the harm that profiteering water companies have inflicted upon communities and their environments. These companies have proved beyond doubt that they are not trustworthy and need to be taken fully into public ownership. Starting with Thames Water who are a continuing disgrace and have taken out so much money that they will never be in a position to rectify the situation. Company greed fulfilment should not be the purpose of rising water bills whilst services fail and pollution increases. Please do not be seduced by the offer of a Golden Ticket.
Reply
Michele Martin 2 weeks ago
The latest UK national risk register puts water outages as the No risk, escalating this issue into one of critical national importance. With the world getting riskier, allies becoming threats, we can no longer allow a vital national asset & basic requirement for life to be threatened by foreign corporations that put profits above the Health of our people & environment.
Reply
Mary Abi Antoun 2 weeks ago
Why oh why was this company allowed to behave as it did without any intervention from the regulatory body? Dumping sewage in rivers and the sea is outrageous for obvious reasons and should never never happen…..
Reply
Rod Dalitz 2 weeks ago
I remember when water was privatised, Thatcher's government said that water needed more investment than government could afford, but private enterprise would be able to find it. No, predictably the opposite happened, insufficient investment, and profit extrction instead.
Reply
Christine Adams 2 weeks ago
How dare the water company in the south threaten the Government with legal action if it’s nationalised after what they have done to rob the public of decent drinking facilities and polluting rivers and waterways . They are not fit for purpose and only interested in paying their shareholders. Not compatible with public service . Not to be trusted
Reply
Peter N 2 weeks ago
The Government need to engage competent lawyers to take punitive actions against Water Companies and their CEOs and Directors.
Thames Water has been run fraudulently, in breach of Customer's Contracts and Environment legislation. Customers have paid invoices for removal and treatment of waste water and sewage. Instead of fulfilling this contractual obligation, Thames Water have repeatedly failed to carry out treatment and released raw untreated sewage.
Government need to pursue legal action for each and every past recorded instance of pollution. If the CEO and Directors were fined one or more year's salary plus jail time and a criminal record, for each instance the pollution would stop.
Government need a strategy to control the Water Companies' future behaviour. Just introduce legislation that a Water Company requires a free Government issued 'Water Supply Operator's Licence' renewable annually and revokable at any time that the Water Company fails to operate in accordance with strict performance criteria. When a Company fails to deliver in accordance with strict performance criteria (continuity of supply, fixing leaks, upgrading infrastructure, zero pollution etc) the Operator's Licence should be immediately revoked and all company assets and infrastructure transferred into Public Ownership. Whenever this happens - the Government should have on standby a list of Private Companies who have tendered to deliver water services on an annually renewable contract at a fixed price and fixed profit margin (no bonuses, no taking out loans against infrastructure, under strict contract terms which eliminate any opportunity for ripping off either Customers or Government).
Reply
Catherine Archer 2 weeks ago
I agree, wholeheartedly water company should be fined into bankruptcy, and then re nationalized for nothing
Reply
Margaret Thomas 2 weeks ago
Civilised countries have clean drinking water, clean rivers, clean beaches, clean seas. This country is civilised. American hedge fund managers are clearly not. Give us back our water .
Reply
Andy Stewart-Wright 2 weeks ago
Shut down Thames Water now!
Reply
Joshua Taylor 2 weeks ago
We had such hopes when Labour came to power with an enormous majority. Starmer has been a great disappointment, seeming to fiddle around the edges rather than making the bold changes that we had hoped for. My generation were enthused by Corbyn's socialist policies; a proper Labour party. After the last two Tory-lite years, perhaps Burnham will have the courage of Atlee and Bevan and push through proper Labour policies. Why should a natural monopoly continue to be run for profit, after such obvious failings for decades? Why wasn't money set aside for upgrades and repairs? Why should foreign firms extract and privatise profits leaving us to nationalise the debt? Some people are getting very rich, while we can't even manage our capital's water supply. It's a shambles.
Reply
Alex Scott 2 weeks ago
The 'deal' of Privatisation was that the private sector would take on the responsibilities of public services, and could keep any profit they made after maintaining an acceptable standard. Instead, in sector after sector, we have seen 40-odd years of profit extraction being put ahead of unacceptable service. It is long past time that we called in the other side of that deal: just as they happily took all the benefits when times were good, so they must take all the hit when their failings come home to roost.
Reply
Roger Jackson 2 weeks ago
This would be a very strong signal from a new Government!
Reply
Mary Taylor 2 weeks ago
Water privatisation is theft.
Reply
Robert Curbishley 2 weeks ago
The utilities have been loaded with debt, and asset stripped by successive owners. To go from a debt free company to collapse is unforgivable and seems to promote a world where private commerce can do anything with utilities, with no recourse from government.
There would be no attempt to secure another deal if there wasn’t something worth fighting for. PROFIT! The people of all political persuasions are being treated as a cash cow for trust funds, pension funds, banks, and investors with scant regard for the service they are supposed to be supplying. It’s not a surprise that very few countries have privatised utilities because profit comes before the service. Stop this now and nationalise, or make it non profit making and cut the CEO’s and SLT pay as well.
Reply
David Hornsby 2 weeks ago
Water should be publicly-owned! Nationalise it ASAP!
Reply
Teresa cookson 2 weeks ago
We are the only country in the world who doesn’t own their own water . End it now
Reply
Simon Duquenoy 2 weeks ago
Water companies should never have been privatised. There is no competition and each one is a monopoly that has bumped up prices due their failure to invest in the infrastructure over many years when our population has increased and thousands more houses built. They have taken profits and paid themselves bonuses and ripped off the public.
Enough is enough. We must clean up their dirty situation and public ownership is the only way
Reply
Carole Meldrum 2 weeks ago
Margaret Thatcher sold the crown jewels when she privatised the utilities, selling them off at a knock down price and the services have got worse over time and costs have gone up. Privatisation hasn't worked. Those utilities used to belong to us and the profits should have been going into the Government's coffers not into some distant shareholder's pockets who don't live in this country. It's a case of out of sight, out of mind.
Reply
Sally Teeling 2 weeks ago
Let's try to bring Labour back to some semblance of the party it was. Stop these greedy corporations owning everything!
Reply
Mark Butler 2 weeks ago
Our water has become a matter of national security, it is unfathomable that we sold our infrastructure to profiteers who have allowed it to crumble and polluted our rivers and sea whilst taking huge bonuses. It’s criminal, those who’ve been running the boards should be jailed.
Reply
Jane Stone 2 weeks ago
Water is the very essence of life and should belong to the public not for a few greedy shareholders.
Reply
Alan Oliver 2 weeks ago
New Government or just new faces? Water is precious & it is about time this Labour Government acknowledged this & brought it all, not just Thames, under our control. Maybe they're not up to it?
Reply
Jenny Templeton 2 weeks ago
Water is essential and should not have been privatised
Reply
Samantha Forbes 2 weeks ago
Privatisation has not worked once again.
Reply
Anthony Carter 2 weeks ago
This is quite correct. Enough profiteering at the expense of our environment!
Reply
Judy Thurlow 2 weeks ago
It's shocking the way water is being weaponised in this way. It should never have been privatised.
Reply
Judy Thurlow 2 weeks ago
It's shocking the way water is being weaponised in this way. It should never have been privatised.
Reply
Judy Thurlow 2 weeks ago
Disgusting capitism
Reply
Judy Thurlow 2 weeks ago
Shocking immoral privatism of a basic need.
Reply
Glenn Morris 2 weeks ago
I agree with the above gentleman, however those same should also not be allowed to increase their customers bills to recover those fines, for every £10000 of fine imposed, they should also be made to legally reduce their customers billing by at least 2% minimum.
Reply
Edward Winter 2 weeks ago
I agree with Steven
Reply
Neil McCart 2 weeks ago
Renationalise ASAP.
Reply
Terry Gough 2 weeks ago
Dont let them back in , only wantiing bigger hand outs and dont want prosecutions for contamination of our water ways 😡😡
Reply
Jean McAulay 2 weeks ago
Water companies behave disgracefully & are all about profit & pollution, it has to stop now!
Reply
Rachael Sharples 2 weeks ago
Water companies should see clean Water as a basic human right and should be committed to this not profits
Reply
Miriam Margolyes 2 weeks ago
Thames Water is as dirty as the water of the rivers it has defiled. Nationalise please asap.
Reply
John Hinds 2 weeks ago
I agree, bankrupt the water companies by suing them the billions of pounds damage them caused in our rivers and coastal waters.
Reply
Tom O'Donovan 2 weeks ago
It's high time we stop this exploitation of our essential utilities. We've watched as the profits have been leached away off-shore and investment has been entirely absent. They had one job, to manage and maintain the water network. They've completely failed. They don't deserve to continue in control of such a valuable asset. They could've made a profit, continued with the operation and managed the infrastructure and avoided all of this, instead they got extremely greedy. We need rules against this and an example needs to be made. Get these utilities back into public ownership.
Reply
Chris Dale 2 weeks ago
Public ownership now.
Reply
Mr Simon Unwin 2 weeks ago
These water companies plead poverty yet pay massive bonuses to ceo/chairmen etc and continue to borrow to pay share holders. It’s a complete scam. As binface says make the head honchos swim in the sewage they discharge
Reply
Julia Smith 2 weeks ago
Water MUST be re-nationalised. The public are paying for leaky pipes and massive sewage spills while shareholders get richer.Its appalling.
Reply
Rae Lewus 2 weeks ago
I agree.
Reply
Douglas Terry 2 weeks ago
The water industry is a scam and should be taken back into public ownership without compensation.
Reply
Chris Adams 2 weeks ago
It’s outrageous that England and Wales are the only countries in the WORLD that have privatised water, have allowed the deliberate polluting of our waterways with dangers to public health and destruction of wildlife, all for obscene amounts of profit.
Stop it NOW
Reply
Paul Taylor 2 weeks ago
This essential public service should not be used as a vehicle for what is effectively theft from its users.
Reply
Sue Rose 2 weeks ago
Needs sorting soon.
Reply
Fiona Mackay 2 weeks ago
End water Privatisation
Reply
Hayley Thomas 2 weeks ago
Stop using MY MONEY to line your pockets while you continue to waste our water and pollute our waterways!
Reply
Mario 2 weeks ago
Its not just sewage. My water provider has broken the law (Water Fittings Regulations) in my own home and put my property and myself at risk, if there were a need for emergency shut off; and they are still in denial of it.
We must remember, that if this were really not OK, the government would do something about it. Therefore, all the corrupt behaviour has been OK with the government and Ofwat; hence no prosecutions, just fines that seem to be part of the business model.
Reply
Margaret Jones 2 weeks ago
Water should have never been privatised. Do the right thing and bring it back into public ownership.
Reply
brian keeley 2 weeks ago
All utilities should be state owned
Reply
James Ross 2 weeks ago
All water companies should be brought back into the public sector with no cost to the taxpayer.
Reply
Ghislaine Hull 2 weeks ago
The water companies (and others) have been profiteering off us for far too long - not maintaining the infrastructures whilst taking all the money out in dividends and bonuses and then expecting the government to bail them out when in trouble. It needs to stop.
Reply
Michael Heeneman 2 weeks ago
Thames is on such a low ebb, the interest on the bailout is far greater than the government can get which is furthered in keeping costs down by writing off a load of debt in administration or insolvency.
Reply
Sydney Meghie 2 weeks ago
They should be heavily fined I totally agree with the above statement.
Reply
Karen Chilver 2 weeks ago
Please re-nationalise water
Reply
Margaret Newbery 2 weeks ago
The water companies have got away with taking too much money for themselves for not doing an even second rate job.
Reply
Audrey Cowling 2 weeks ago
Water is a necessity for life. It should never have been sold off to foreign bidders. We warned that profit would come before quality of service and we were right. Whilst pocketing huge bonuses, the companies have neglected to invest in the maintenance and development of infrastructure resulting in polluted waters, parasites in drinking water and sky high prices for the customer. Enough is enough. Water is vital and should not be for profit for foreign investors.
Reply
Audrey Cowling 2 weeks ago
Take water companies back into public ownership.
Reply
Jon Tyrrell 2 weeks ago
Water privatisation has been a complete disaster. Nationalise it now with no compensation - they have already taken too much of our money.
Reply
Stephen Rowland 2 weeks ago
We should own it
Reply
Dennis Gray 2 weeks ago
Good luck and public to own same!
Reply
Don Beattie 2 weeks ago
This has got to be taken back in to public ownership
Reply
Michael South 2 weeks ago
Thames water is a disgrace. I live close to the Evenlode River and it's polluted. I cannot cross the road in my village without fear of twisting my ankle on a poorly constructed manhole cover. We pay for the water we use but Thames water is unable to produce enough for us to use as we wish.
Reply
Don Beattie 2 weeks ago
Public health is paramount
Reply
Philip Davies 2 weeks ago
Time to boot them out
Reply
David Bagnall 2 weeks ago
Water needs to belong to the public. This shouldn’t be about profit but a basic human need.
Reply
Furious 2 weeks ago
Absolutely NO, how dare they. The insolence and arrogant behaviour to even suggest this.
Reply
Stuart Pullan 2 weeks ago
All privatised utilities are a sin!
Reply
Kathleen Miller 2 weeks ago
Keep our precious water only for public, agricultural and wildlife benefit not for commercial greed.
Reply
Adrian Race Doran 2 weeks ago
How long, are we going to be blackmailed, by the water company’s, privatisation, was it is not good for the country,
Reply
Brian 2 weeks ago
No compensation required. They've been ripping us off for years.
Reply
Stella 2 weeks ago
People and the environment before profit please.
Reply
Michael Leckenby 2 weeks ago
They’re nothing but daylight robbers. The only thing they’ve excelled in is filling their own bank accounts… crooks
Reply
sarah chilton 2 weeks ago
This is an important precedent: so not let them get away with this!
Reply
Mike Perry 2 weeks ago
Water companies should be brought into public ownership without any compensation, as they have been mismanaged solely for the benefit of the shareholders.
Reply
John Vendy 2 weeks ago
Public ownership is the only way to control this basic human right. Public control has already failed (OFWAT).
Reply
Nick 2 weeks ago
Come on Angela, this is the moment, Andy Burnham has swept to power promising real hope and change. Please do your part in bringing our water back in to public ownership and let these dirty privatised creditors get not a penny more.
Reply
Helen Howard 2 weeks ago
I agree wholeheartedly with StevenIsle above
Thames water also have blood on their hands as a child died as result of imbibing their filthy water containing sewage right into the river & eventually the sea The pollution they are causing is beyond despicable whilst the chief executive & her minions continue to walk away with vast sums & bonuses
Reply
Ronald Kraus 2 weeks ago
They should take it out of their profits
Reply
Maryam Tierney 2 weeks ago
Just do it
Reply
Michael Laughton-Zimmerman 2 weeks ago
Please do the right thing and take it into public ownership
Reply
Rodney Stanford-Beale 2 weeks ago
Public ownership only!
Reply
Linda Thompson 2 weeks ago
Water companies should have to foot the bill to make our waters safe and fined for pollyhem
Reply
Martin Walker 2 weeks ago
Keep up the good work!
Reply
Alexandra Gray 2 weeks ago
Water should be brought into public ownership. We need investment into our national services and a stop to the terrible pollution of our rivers and seas. Water is a right not a money making opportunity for venture capitalists in far away countries.
Reply
Ken Harris 2 weeks ago
When the bonuses are more than the debts they have accrued you should be able to see their business model
Reply
Stephen Gannon 2 weeks ago
They’ve screwed the industry
Reply
Jennifer Dyson 2 weeks ago
Let’s the shareholders pay for the mess not tax payers.
Reply
Alexander Blackburn 2 weeks ago
An essential commodity such as water, which in any case will be a natural monopoly when supplied to a household, does not belong in the private, profit seeking sector. It should never have been privatised, and this piece of ideological fanaticism has produced a disaster in terms of pollution, cost of living to the public, and failure to anticipate the problems caused by climate change.
Reply
Sheena Langford 2 weeks ago
Privatisation of the water industry has been a disaster - for customers & for our seas & rivers. Thames Water is just the worst of a bad bunch, and should be taken into special administration immediately, to prevent more harm.
Reply
Shaun Last 2 weeks ago
The tax payer/customers should not have to bail out the water companies.
Reply
Nicola Hall 2 weeks ago
The model the water companies have followed is corrupt and parasitic. I believe fines commensurate with their wrong doing could make it cheap to renationalise and that this is the correct route.
Reply
Hil Beavan 2 weeks ago
As a Thames water customer this company is unfit for purpose. They whacked my bill up from £35/month to £220/month and were impossible to get any sense from. And they fill our rivers with sewage. Disgusting.
Reply
Louise 2 weeks ago
Water Provirisation has been another unacceptable disaster thanks to Margaret Thatcher’s legacy. All water companies including Thames Water should be in public hands. These companies have had more than enough money to ensure our infrastructure is properly maintained. Instead they decided to be greedy giving a fortune to Senior staff and shareholders and allowing loads of water leaks. Sewage being the worst. Sort it out Andy Burnham
Reply
Teresa M George 2 weeks ago
Great!
Reply
Piers Hogg 2 weeks ago
Water companies should be fined at such punitive rates that they walk away from their contracts, taking their debts with them. Their manageeent should be imprisoned for persistent offending.
Reply
Teresa M George 2 weeks ago
Great!
Reply
John Wyatt 2 weeks ago
Renationalise now. Fed up with being fleeced by incompetent, corrupt CEOs.
Reply
Stanley Moore 2 weeks ago
Leaving water in private hands is putting lives at risk, clean water is absolutely essential to human life and needs to be nationalised for public safety.
Reply
ann beddoes 2 weeks ago
agree with the comments above
Reply
claire paylor 2 weeks ago
Water is a basic human right and it should never be for profit - when irresponsible companies are allowing billions of litres of water to spill away and not fixing the leaks, or doing repairs, or necessary improvements but are gladly taking profits and bonuses, the system needs to be changed - billionaires and investors should be involved for public good, not their wallets and bank accounts, so if it's taken back with them kicking and screaming, so be it, it must be an improved system where the public is protected and put first - for once!
Reply
James Richmond 2 weeks ago
I disagree with lining the pockets of shareholders at the expense of the treatment of their customers.
Reply
Nicholas Heins 2 weeks ago
Keep the pressure on
Reply
Barry Hurst 2 weeks ago
Water is a basic human right and should not be run as a profit for foreign governments. Revers the privatisation now.
Reply
W Adam 2 weeks ago
Fed up of water companies ‘taking the piss’.
Reply
James A Carey 2 weeks ago
The Water companies management and shareholders should be fined for the pollution they have allowed.
Reply
Roger Bannister 2 weeks ago
All of them that have been pumping seeage in the rivers and streams should be put back into public ownership
Reply
Paul walker 2 weeks ago
The whole privatisation scam has ruined many organisations which are supposed to
serve the public, the common good, and society as a whole - water chief amongst them. Bring the water industry, starting with Thames water, back into proper, full pubic ownership now
Reply
Dr F C Clough 2 weeks ago
The sewage in our rivers & lakes is a disgrace to our country. The Victorian pipes need modernising & yet shareholders have been given massive payouts for years & not invested in more treatment works which are badly needed due to population growth. This has to stop. Water should be nationalised . No profits for shareholders .
Reply
Michael Knights 2 weeks ago
Water services must come back into this countries ownership. The problem with Thatcher was she sold off all the utilities for a pittance. Burnham said on Monday, this country took a wrong turn in the '80s. All utilities must become owned by the people for the people.
Reply
Michael Knights 2 weeks ago
Water services must come back into this countries ownership. The problem with Thatcher was she sold off all the utilities for a pittance. Burnham said on Monday, this country took a wrong turn in the '80s. All utilities must become owned by the people for the people.
Reply
Arthur Wainwright 2 weeks ago
Private water companies have a monopoly, Thames Water have proven time and time again they have put profits over customers, infrastructure investment and the enviroment. How is it Mr Weston and former CFO Alastair Cochran can get away with mass envirtomental pollution whilst if a member of the public dumped raw sewage you would be subject to unlimited fines and up to 5 years in prison under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Reply
Karen Cartwright 2 weeks ago
Thames water are a bunch of crooks. People are getting really fed up with this the game is starting to be over for these criminals. As a single person with single use in London I pay £64 a month this is an absolute rip off. My neighbour in borough of Barnett Five bedroom house pays £30 a month what is going on with Thames water obvious scan and we the people are sick of paying the greedy crooks polluting and poisoning our water systems that affects all life .
Reply
Shirley Sampson 2 weeks ago
Water is a public good, not a commodity and should NEVER have been privatised.
Reply
Raymond Brown 2 weeks ago
Nationalising water companies is the only way to sort them out. The private sector has failed consumers over the years since the companies were allowed to be privatised. The shareholders should be penalised for their actions and the CEOs fined.
Reply
Jane Roderic-Evans 2 weeks ago
all water companies should be taken into public ownership again - starting with Thames.
Reply
Anne Wyatt 2 weeks ago
Renationalise. We’ve paid enough for incompetence, corruption and pollution.
Reply
Martin Palmer 2 weeks ago
We have had enough of being abused by water companies not doing their job, but just finding ways to make even greater profits
Reply
Felicity 2 weeks ago
Very important!
Reply
Roger Newman 2 weeks ago
All service utilities should be in public ownership without any private or union interference, run on a marginal profit basis charging a fair price with all excesses put back into the utilities. Legislation must be enacted to guarantee utility companies remain in public ownership in perpetuity, managed & run on the above stated basis.
Reply
Maggie 2 weeks ago
40 years of focusing on shareholders profits rather than network management need to end
Reply
K J Ashton 2 weeks ago
Self interest rules the world and there is no thought for the common good.
It would seem that very few realise that seeking happiness for yourself, has never worked.
It is is clear, that “True happiness (which everyone is seeking) lies in making others happy”
The best we can do here, for the common good and clean water - is to nationalise!
Reply
Siobhan Smith 2 weeks ago
I think this company shouls be bought back by government for what it's actually worth...how about £1.00. Shareholders have taken profit from a company that was not making any and made inadequate investment. Those in charge of water privatisation in goverment in the first place should also be named and shamed and never be allowed to stand for public office again. The dereluction of duty demonstrated by this nonsense is shameful.
Reply
Lynn Downing 2 weeks ago
Thay have robbed the public for to long ,it's time to put ALL UTILITIES BACK IN PUBLIC OWNERSHIP WE THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN ARE SICK OF BEING ROBBED MORE AND MORE EACH YEAR SO DO THE RIGHT THING AND GIVE BACK .
Reply
Lorna Burley 2 weeks ago
If I had been as neglect in my job I would have expected to be sacked, so be it for these water companies.
Reply
Anita Tucker 2 weeks ago
Such obvious criminal behaviour to callously put families at such disgusting health risks and relish profiting from it.
Reply
Jim Hines 2 weeks ago
I think the idea of fining water companies into bankruptcy is a very appealing one. It may also depress the share values of other privatised utilities and enable further nationalisation.
Reply
Francis O’Leary 2 weeks ago
The government has to wrest control of the water industry from greedy private hands. They have had years of exploitation to enrich themselves while the whole water system was systematically degraded. They get no compensation for this, they have extracted enough already. Time to take it back into public ownership at no public expense. Just vote it into law. You have a super majority. Just do it.
Reply
Peter Van-Stratten 2 weeks ago
Be a politician that people talk about in a positive manner, because you did what was right not to benefit companies but people.
Reply
jane burkinshaw 2 weeks ago
Water companies should be forever ashamed of polluting our rivers and coasts.
Reply
Stuart Smith 2 weeks ago
Thames water have behaved appallingly
Reply
MR FRANCIS J MCENTAGGART 2 weeks ago
Water should be renationalised.
Reply
Michael Kearney 2 weeks ago
Water, the very essence of life, should never be a profit making exercise.
Reply
Tim Atkin 2 weeks ago
Keep them out
Reply
Anna Somerset 2 weeks ago
Drinking water is essential to life on earth. Privatisation was supposed to improve the quality of our water supply by investment, but we might as well have engaged highwaymen and fly tippers as we are being held to ransom and poisoned by chemicals and excretia. Our water situation is an international joke in the worst possible taste. Renatiinalise and recoup the ill-gotten bonuses!
Reply
Julian Sheppard 2 weeks ago
We have been screwed for 30 years now it's our turn.
Reply
Fiona Edge 2 weeks ago
Water should never have been privatised. Don’t let them take more money from us and do more damage to the environment while we pick up the bill.
Reply
Richard Le Corney 2 weeks ago
In her book, "How Not to Die (Too Soon)", Devi Sridhar, Professor of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University, uses England as a case study in how NOT to organise water supply. The section is titled " 'Profit Over Human Health' Systems".
Reply
John fuller 2 weeks ago
I agree totally..
Reply
Alan Oliver 2 weeks ago
Privatisation has been a disaster for the water supply industry in England, especially in the Thames region.
Reply
Peter Flack 2 weeks ago
I agree fully with the above statement
Reply
Luisa Martin 2 weeks ago
The entire Country should Stop paying the water bills until we start getting what we have paid for and it’s back to public ownership immediately
Reply
Gulsie Suleman 2 weeks ago
Have a water meter but still sent an estimated bill. Yes get rid of them. Let’s hope our new P M makes a difference
Reply
Martin Smith 2 weeks ago
Just nationalise water now the nation is with you.
Reply
Sylvia Crowe 2 weeks ago
We were much better when our water was nationalised my father and my-ex husband Both worked for TWA less leaks now nothing seems to function properly except greed and neglect
Reply
John Magennis 2 weeks ago
All basic facilities for living should be in public ownership.
Reply
Robert Adomaitis 2 weeks ago
Recoup the funds from CEOs and shareholders
Reply
Robert Adomaitis 2 weeks ago
Recoup the funds from CEOs and shareholders
Reply
Cheryl Fell 2 weeks ago
Years and years of plundering our water for massive payments to shareholders and top tier staff = dying rivers / filthy seas / failing Victorian infrastructure - nobody else would be able to run a business in that way - disgusting greed without a care for customers or the natural world - we must take it all back - most other countries manage their own water - Maggie Thatcher and her ridiculous sell off has been a tragedy and a disaster.
Reply
Annie Dowling 2 weeks ago
Time that shareholders and management of the water companies stopped leeching on the public.
Reply
David Jones 2 weeks ago
Clean water is a basic human right. It should not be a monopoly where our nature is being destroyed whilst the profits are privatised and the losses are nationalised. I’m sick to the back teeth of corporate greed ruining the lives of ordinary people and wildlife. No more
Reply
Percival Carvello 2 weeks ago
Fine the directors
Reply
Ilana Cravitz 2 weeks ago
Please stop this company profiteering at the taxpayers' expense.
Reply
Catherine Whittingham 2 weeks ago
I find it hard to believe that water companies have been allowed to get away with taking large amounts of money and not doing the job they are paid to do. Who wrote their contracts?
Reply
clive summerton 2 weeks ago
There is only one solution to corrupt water companies public ownership, they have failed at the expense of people and failed to put all the necessary solutions to prevent pollution of our environment whilst taking money to fill their own pockets absolute parasites.
Reply
Janet Marks 2 weeks ago
I heartily agree. Privatisation was and is the most unethical way of managing a national resource.
Reply
Azra Imam 2 weeks ago
Ease the life of common people!
Reply
Madeleine Wells 2 weeks ago
Water falls out of the sky onto the land we all live on. It cannot be owned by anyone. It belongs to us all and should not be commodified to make profit for the few at huge cost to everyone living here and to the detriment of all the creatures living in water courses and lakes. We depend on the natural world. We must care for the precious resource that is every drop of water. This has proved to be impossible when ownership is in the hands of private companies simply seeking profit.
Reply
Lee Green 2 weeks ago
Absolutely silly price rises,going up ridiculously in past 2 years. Can't shop around you just have to pay.
Water companies have been paying CEOs and shareholders and it's the customers paying and they don't want to pay fines for polluting. How is this a model for a company? How has this been allowed to happen?
Reply
Rhea Taplin 2 weeks ago
We can’t let these greedy careless people strip the country’s assets.
Reply
Carole Faithorn 2 weeks ago
Privatisation has done nothing, and never could do anything in the case of water, to increase competition which was *suppposed* to be the main benefit of this misguided policy. The only people to have benefited are management and shareholders. Reject the Thames Water deal in its entirety!
Reply
Helen Dean 2 weeks ago
Shareholders know that they invest at a risk and should not be bailed out. Water companies have given bonuses for poor management and have decimated our rivers and coasts with sewage. Public ownership is the sensible and cheapest solution for the tax payer in the long term and is also in the interest of National Security. Allowing foreign ownership of a crucial resource is madness.
Reply
Jan Kaye 2 weeks ago
The water companies have proved that privatisation was a life-threatening mistake. Water must be brought back into public ownership asap. Let the companies go bust and prosecute the bosses for endangering public health.
Reply
John Bailey 2 weeks ago
This disaster has gone on too long. It is a legacy of Mrs Thatcher’s plans that took away so much of the public’s share of decision-making and gave it to the wrong people who have made off with the profits, or stayed here to laud it over those who remain.
Reply
Noeleen OReilly 2 weeks ago
Water should never be privatised. It is a human necessity and should belong to everyone. Mrs.Thatcher has a lot to answer for.
Reply
Sue Steele 2 weeks ago
I can see absolutely no reason for not nationalising all of the water companies. The latter have consistently failed to update the industry’s infrastructure whilst increasing our bills massively. In addition, they continue to pollute our waterways and, in some instances, are failing to provide customers with water at all. I have to ask what exactly we are paying for - it seems to shareholders’ f do dividends and not much else. It is tempting to suggest that the privatised water business as a whole looks remarkably like a scam…
Reply
Hazel 2 weeks ago
I want utilities to be brought back into government ownership
Reply
Tony Wilkins 2 weeks ago
Please Please let's not mess about anymore. Let's bring Thames Water back into public ownership where it belongs.
Then bring all the other water companies with it.
Reply
Janice Hukin 2 weeks ago
Keep up the good work
Reply
Alicia Canavan 2 weeks ago
Are water bill went up because of the likes of Thames Water,United utilities etc because all these companies only see is profit not the safety of the water environment.
Reply
Kathy Welham 2 weeks ago
Water should be publicly owned and regulated for the public good as the elemental necessity it is. It is a travesty and an outrage the way it has been used as a means of profiting from a human need and not even keeping it fit for purpose. It is immoral and the failure to protect its cleanliness should be viewed as a criminal offence.
Reply
Catherine Jacobs 2 weeks ago
Utilities need to be in public ownership to stop pollution and corruption
Reply
Margaret Adams 2 weeks ago
Water is essential to life, is a natural monopoly, and used to belong to us all.
But unlike every other country in the world, these vital assets were sold off to asset-strippers who borrowed massively against their value to pay out millions to themselves and their shareholders.
While letting the infrastructure crumble, poisoning our environment, killing our wildlife. They can't even keep the taps running.
Why should they keep the profits but the public take the losses?
Why should we pay for their mismanagement?
It's a matter of national security: Water, a natural monopoly, essential to life.
It's time we took it back into public ownership (not just "control").
Reply
Margaret Malcolm 2 weeks ago
We should never have thought for one second about privatising water like we have. It's a natural source which is absolutely vital to life. Prime Ministers like Margaret Thatcher rode roughshod over us. Banks should not own our water. It shows the strength of the vicious predators who have been at the top stealing this precious resource for decades. They're soulless and evil.
Reply
Margaret Malcolm 2 weeks ago
We should never have thought for one second about privatising water like we have. It's a natural source which is absolutely vital to life. Prime Ministers like Margaret Thatcher rode roughshod over us. Banks should not own our water. It shows the strength of the vicious predators who have been at the top stealing this precious resource for decades. They're soulless and evil.
Reply
Laura Swaffield 2 weeks ago
This is a failed business. Those who invested in it made a foolish decision, so they should lose their money as with any other foolish investment. Simple
Reply
Vic Gammon 2 weeks ago
It is time to end this disgusting blight on our country
Reply
Vivienne Walker 2 weeks ago
The privatisation of the water companies was theft from the tax payer of a public utility.We have paid enough in order enrich investors.Please take back our property and ensure that we pay nothing more.
Reply
Sue Fenton 2 weeks ago
Thames need to leave us alone
Reply
Jill 2 weeks ago
Water should not be owned by companies making big profits and giving poor service.
Reply
Peter Amodio 2 weeks ago
I live in Rotherhithe and there’s just been a major leak, flooding the road and cutting off our water supply! 🤬
Reply
Roland 2 weeks ago
Public ownership is the only right thing to do.
The alternative supports the evil Thatcherism.
Reply
Rosalie Carew 2 weeks ago
This needs to change. It’s beyond corrupt
Reply
Rosalie Carew 2 weeks ago
This needs to change. It’s beyond corrupt
Reply
Caroline Stanley 2 weeks ago
Water should not be for private profiteering
Reply
Richard Sawyer 2 weeks ago
It should have never been privatised in the first place
Reply
Alison Armour 2 weeks ago
Agree that the water companies should be fined for their pollution of rivers and beaches to the point of bankruptcy. The executives should lose their homes in partial compensation for their company's loss, while they treated it as their own private piggy bank.
Reply
Sue Halket 2 weeks ago
I'm fed up with Thames Water doing such a bad job.
Reply
Mikyla Limpkin 2 weeks ago
I really hope you’ve watched the documentary ‘Dirty Business’ - it will tell you all you need to know.
I support Count Binfaces proposition that all water board executives should be made to swim in as British River - but I’ll add that it specific river should be chosen by water campaigners.
I also challenge you, Angela, to prep posted to swim by your decisions…
Reply
Gillian Shambrook 2 weeks ago
Confidence in having a consistent fresh water supply to drink and services which look after our environment is such a fundamental need and expectation. I strongly believe this can only be achieved by public ownership. We have been very let down by these companies for too long.
Services integral to our society and daily lives should be publicly owned.
Reply
Maureen Peck 2 weeks ago
It’s disgusting that this has happened. Profit should not come before putting your house in order. In this day and age you should have found away to dispose of waste properly. Just because it cost money you have not done this.
Reply
Janet Hall 2 weeks ago
Heartily agree with statement above!
Reply
Ani Kerrigan 2 weeks ago
Public ownership now!
Reply
Julie Warwick 2 weeks ago
The shareholders have been priority so far with their huge profits while the rest of us struggle to keep them in that lifestyle. Any profits should go back into the system to improve it. No more sewage overflows into our rivers, it’s a disgrace.
Reply
John Savage 2 weeks ago
The privatised water utilities are parasites. Water is the most essential commodity, the source of all life and essential for sustaining life. How can this be in the hands of private companies whose only objective is to screw the public for every penny they can get? Re-nationalise it now along with all other essential infrastructure.
Reply
Suzanne Williams 2 weeks ago
This is the moment to do the right thing for people of UK. The privatisation of water companies has been a complete disaster….there is no benefit for people or nature. Please do not accept whatever deal the creditors are offering. It has to change..we all deserve clean water, rivers, services that are run for everyone: not to line pockets of a few.
Please…do the right thing for the people, for our waters, for our nature.
Reply
Mike Storey 2 weeks ago
Water companies have made a mockery of customers and the government and particularly ofwat and EA who are clearly complicit and compromised. They should be allowed to fail and be renatofor nothing with the debts incurred by the management and shareholders with no thought to their duties to customers so they must foot the bill!
Reply
Lena Hamre 2 weeks ago
For the public by the public
Reply
PHILIP GRISPO 2 weeks ago
We need to stop paying millionaire foreign shareholders
Reply
charles jamieson 2 weeks ago
Quite right
Reply
Colin Savill 2 weeks ago
The customers of Thames Water will have to foot the bill for infrastructure maintenance and improvements that have been ignored for years whilst shareholders have used this essential utility as a mechanism to extract public money and load the company with debt. If we are expected to pay for this, there is no way these vultures should profit.
Reply
Alan Kennerson 2 weeks ago
Declare Bankruptcy in order to ensure public ownership.
Reply
John Mahoney 2 weeks ago
No to privatisation
Reply
Michael Ford-Cowie 2 weeks ago
The continued privatisation of public utilities is the most obvious way that the public can see that members of governments during the past 45 years have taken payments - often in the form of highly paid “advisory roles” in the companies after the minister has left office in return for allowing private companies to provide terrible service at the highest price that they can get away with.
The growing understanding of this mechanism is part of what is making the conventional political parties unelectable. Whilst individual ministers early on this era got away with it, because so few people understood the wholesale theft from the people and their nation, the growing comprehension of this corruption of public life means that increasingly, current ministers do not, at least in terms of reputation and future career succeed - which explains the increasing turnover in high officials, and the fact that they are not missed by us when they have gone.
We know now that the private capture of public utilities is a robbery - the evidence is abundant. The situation with Thames Water is absolutely farcical, and anyone who helps to allow it to stay in private hands will be tainted by their actions. Please do not be a facilitator of it for hoped-for future reward. It won’t work for you.
Reply
Susan Winter 2 weeks ago
It is time to return our water supplies to public ownership. This precious vital resource needs protecting not abused.
Reply
Aloysius Barody 2 weeks ago
Hang your heads in shame…
Reply
Chris Voysey 2 weeks ago
Yes water companies should be ‘fined’ for polluting our environment!
Reply
Paul Zvomuya 2 weeks ago
Water companies should be public owned. We do not want the greedy American economic model when it comes to water and all other essential services.
Reply
Patrick Coyne 2 weeks ago
Nationalisation is the only answer
Reply
Joanne Lee 2 weeks ago
It’s scandalous that wealthy companies and individuals are making money out of our water companies while polluting the waterways and not attending to the systems in place to maintain safe water for everyone and clean waterways for the future of the planet!
Reply
Hazel Helm 2 weeks ago
This is OUR water, it should not be owned or controlled by capitalists and hedge funds. Nationalise it.
Reply
MR S W Nicholson 2 weeks ago
The general public should not be robbed by rich investors.
Nationalise when it goes bust.
Reply
Philip Scown 2 weeks ago
None of Thatcher’s privatisations have been a success. It’s time to renationalise.
Reply
Benjamin Newton 2 weeks ago
Privatisation has failed. It's time for public ownership.
Reply
Angela Matthews 2 weeks ago
Renationalise with NO compensation to shareholders. They have made enough profit to our cost.
Reply
Helen OBrien 2 weeks ago
All UK water companies must return to full public ownership. In Deal where I live, Southern Water has poisoned the sea with regular sewage dumps. It’s so full of e-coli that we have not swim in it for two years and counting. In January at Camber Sands in East Sussex, Southern Water’s plant filter broke, releasing millions of plastic beads into the sea, a catasphrophe causing plastic pollution and untold damage to wildlife and it took Southern Water 2 weeks to admit it was their fault.
Reply
Marina Steel 2 weeks ago
The water companies are a disgrace and do not serve the public, only their shareholders. Nationalisation is the only answer to save our seas and rivers from non stop pollution.
Reply
Paul-Francois Tremlett 2 weeks ago
Privatisation hasn't worked
Reply
Paul-Francois Tremlett 2 weeks ago
The privatisation experiment failed
Reply
Barry Lawton 2 weeks ago
We need to take back control Angela
Reply
Liana Turner 2 weeks ago
What water companies and Thames in particular have been allowed to get away with beggars belief- please do the right thing.
Reply
Susan odell 2 weeks ago
Please take it away from them
Reply
Ann Bennett 2 weeks ago
Instead of letting Water Companies get away with not only being able to still operate after getting into so much debt, and allowing the continued pollution of our lovely waters killing fish and making people ill through using the water, plus giving the Fat Cat "Share Holders" even more money for doing so!!! Thames Water should be put into Special Measures in the first instance and then taken away from this US Company and brought back to Public Ownership. Please act in the interests of the Public and STOP THIS LUNACY. Thank you.
Reply
Daniel Rayner 2 weeks ago
End the failed experiment of privatisation and bring water back into public ownership
Reply
Paul challenger 2 weeks ago
Make this type of legalized theft illegal once more.
Reply
Matthew Griffiths 2 weeks ago
Carry on the good work
Reply
Deborah 2 weeks ago
Had enough of overseas private equity trashing our ecosystems and abusing its customers. Public ownership is essential now.
Reply
Bill Hughes 2 weeks ago
How on earth is the privatisation of a monopoly utility supposed to work?
I have NO CHOICE with regard to my water supplier.
My water bill has increased by 50% since 2024!
Unsustainable. Unwarranted. Unfair!
Reply
Pietro Tolaini 2 weeks ago
All water companies should be pushed to bankruptcy and renationalised. All fines should be given to customers and not to the government.
Reply
Michael Lyons 2 weeks ago
Stop the rot
Reply
Charles Healey 2 weeks ago
Privatisation is always a disaster and a rip off.
Reply
Andrew honeywell 2 weeks ago
Anything that’s is used by the public to survive should not be private owned
Reply
thomas jennings 2 weeks ago
Full nationalisation now!
Reply
Brian King 2 weeks ago
Any debts accumulated by the company must be settled by shareholders or written off. The tax-payers MUST NOT be saddled with debts accrued through financial mismanagement / over-paying bonuses and dividends.
Reply
Jane Ceresa 2 weeks ago
The King of the North must take our water back! The people have paid too much for a poor service. The investors and poor management do not deserve to be compensated!
Reply
Alex Jowitt 2 weeks ago
Not all profit is profit
Reply
Kevin Pattison 2 weeks ago
This is a failed company
Reply
Annie McDonald 2 weeks ago
Water belongs to us the people living here not some shareholders of a company we don’t trust and who have constantly poisoned our rivers etc. We need Water to be renationalised now!
Reply
John Lunnon 2 weeks ago
It's time for change
Reply
John Lunnon 2 weeks ago
Just do it
Reply
Mary Bennett 2 weeks ago
Make chief executives personally responsible for pollution and forbid bonuses.
The company will then be worth less and we can buy it.
Reply
William Embliss 2 weeks ago
Nationalise all the water companies starting with Thames Water.
Reply
Martin Cray 2 weeks ago
Withholding money remaining after that should be have been spent on delivering the services and goods is not profit; it’s extortion, or at best fraud.
Reply
Patricia Daly 2 weeks ago
NO PROFITS SHOULD BE HANDED OUT TO SHAREHOLDERS AND INCREASES OF CEO ETC SALARIES SHOULD BE FORBIDDEN UNTIL THEY HAVE BROUGHT TW UP TO MODERN DAY STANDARDS. It’s daylight robbery and extremely unfair that WE have to pay! Shocking!
Reply
Tracey Neale 2 weeks ago
I, and many others, are furious with the state of our rivers, seas and lack of confidence in our water companies, often worrying if our water is safe to drink! For too long there has been a culture of profits before quality of service and it is unacceptable. I pay a lot of money each month for water services and sewage services-Why? I’m fearful to drink the water out of my taps, I can no longer swim in our filthy seas and the state of our beautiful rivers makes me want to cry!! And I’m paying for this!!!!!
Reply
Wendy Wakefield 2 weeks ago
I agree
Reply
Judy coleridge 2 weeks ago
Nothing more to add
Reply
Sarah Young 2 weeks ago
Getting back control of our water is incredibly important - it would make so many people proud to have a Labour government. Please make it happen!
Reply
Tom Athron 2 weeks ago
The report on how at least 5 times more water than any hose ban is wasted every single day due to faulty water pipes all across the UK. Also, there have been no new water reservoirs built since the 60s. The water companies need to be in public hands so that the infrastructure is kept up. The private need to fix it all - and if they can't then they must be disolved and come into public hands. We also need MORE RESERVOIRS! It is a joke that with the rainfall we have in the UK in the year we are stuggling for water. Plus, AI data centres need to have a water recycling structure to cool.
Reply
Patricia Keiller 2 weeks ago
I firmly believe that all water companies should be nationalised. Privatisation of this sector has only led to companies putting profit over safety. This has resulted in higher prices for the consumer and increasingly polluted rivers and seas.
Reply
Barbara Newcombe 2 weeks ago
This greedy, costly practice has to end
Reply
Diane Hodgkinson 2 weeks ago
We need to get Thames Water in public ownership now!
Reply
Rosemarie Corscadden 2 weeks ago
Thames Water deserves no more chances. This is Corporate Greed at its worst! No more deals - action - we have no choice - we need and demand that Thames Water and the rest of them are all allowed to go bankrupt. It’s been greed and nothing but greed at the expense of those who are held to ransom - their customers.
Reply
Brenda Parsons 2 weeks ago
Stop the bonuses for the executives.
Reply
John Wadsworth 2 weeks ago
Water should never have been privatised. The water companies have all put their shareholders and profit before customers and have exploited their position as monopolies. Nationalise them all now!
Reply
Irene Barrett 2 weeks ago
They have abused their power allowing sewage into the waters all over our Country
Reply
Chris Williamson 2 weeks ago
Water is an essential for life and hygiene- it should not be a vehicle for profit and wealth and should be considered a national interest. Thames Water is not fit for purpose.
Reply
Evey House 2 weeks ago
High time
Reply
Rowena O'Toole 2 weeks ago
Our Water company, despite consistent pollution, will pay themselves handsomely but increase our bills by 30%.
Our pension increases each year but all our bills increase more!
Reply
Jenny Hodgkinson 2 weeks ago
I agree that public services should be for people not profit
Reply
John w Griffiths 2 weeks ago
Take water back to public ownership
Reply
Mary Weir 2 weeks ago
Wholeheartedly agree! Our water systems were flogged off by Margaret thatcher for a fraction of what they were worth and, despite neglect, mismanagement, greed, corruption and shameful pollution, have made fortunes for individuals and foreign hedge funds. Clean water is a basic human need. Our waterways and seas should be healthy and protected. No one should profit from our water!
Reply
Sandra Pirolo 2 weeks ago
Good luck
Reply
Laura Adey 2 weeks ago
As a Thames water customer my bill has increased by 50% in three years, in addition I am being expected to fund shareholders and fund a reservoir that will devastate the local area and I am being asked not to use something i am forced to pay for which is a fundamental human right. We are vastly losing control of what we pay for which is a human right. This must stop
Reply
John Kirkland 2 weeks ago
It should be safe to swim in the Thames river with my family. Thames Water can not be trusted to ensure it is.
Reply
Anthony Mather 2 weeks ago
Mismanagement should not be rewarded. Selling water must be the easiest industry to make money from…..they have no excuses.
Reply
Michael Perris 2 weeks ago
This is what happens when you don’t keep up when you don’t put money back into the business and pay massive dividends to the shareholders.
Reply
Jane Booth 2 weeks ago
Water is an essential not a product for profit.
Reply
Matthew Hutton 2 weeks ago
Water privatisation has failed for sure. Let’s nationalise it.
Reply
Lynne Walker 2 weeks ago
Bonuses should be abolished. Salaries are enough
Reply
Mr Alan Illingworth 2 weeks ago
We must take back control, of all essential utilities, for us our children and future peoples.
Reply
Peter Owen 2 weeks ago
let the shareholders pay for it
Reply
Susan Ekins 2 weeks ago
Lost all trust in Thames Water. This needs to be sorted out
Reply
Lesley Kinney 2 weeks ago
Surely, if it was a public utility, the profits could be used to improve the infrastructure, rather than enrich the shareholders?
Reply
Margaret Dunn 2 weeks ago
I strongly object to Thames Water putting up prices , paying directors bonuses whilst the service deteriorates year on year through inadequate investment in infrastructure.
Reply
Deni Buckley 2 weeks ago
Please put water companies into public ownership.
Reply
Carmen jackson 2 weeks ago
Re nationalise this essential public service
Reply
Maureen Parmenter 2 weeks ago
Water companies should be run by the government. Not in private hands.
Reply
Derek Reed 2 weeks ago
Bring water companies back into public ownership.
Reply
Gayna Walls 2 weeks ago
Should have been nationalised decades ago.
Reply
Terry Crew 2 weeks ago
Renationalise the water companies (and all utilities) without any compensation. They were not Thatchers to sell off in the first place so, in effect, they were stolen from us. Give them back!
Reply
Mick Andrew 2 weeks ago
This carry on has to stop.
Water companies have shown they cannot be trusted with this vital public utility.
Public control is the only way forward.
Reply
Julie Swift 2 weeks ago
The water industry should never have been privatised. Making a profit to pay shareholders for something that everyone needs every day is wrong.
Reply
Louise Gallagher 2 weeks ago
We cannot all water to remain privatised!
Reply
Emma Fletcher 2 weeks ago
This is our chance to take back control of a natural monopoly which should never have been sold off. We need water to live and privatisation has utterly failed. There should be no more chances!
Reply
Barbara Bennett 2 weeks ago
The utilities privatisation experiment has failed the public, especially the supply of water where the so-called advantage of competition is non-existent. Time to return water to public control.
Reply
Peter N 2 weeks ago
Thames Water has been run fraudulently to serve the interests of the CEO, Executives and shareholders by paying them vast sums of money which should have been invested in the infrastructure; whilst feeling safe in the expectation that whenever the company repeatedly runs out of cash to pay the staff and deliver a basic service to the customers, the UK Govt. will have NO OPTION but to repeatedly bail it out by an injection of cash. The UK Water Industry is a mafia style operation, with the collusion of the regulator. People who worked for the regulator are later rewarded by being recruited into highly paid jobs in Water Companies. The regulator has allowed Water Companies to continue to dump raw sewage and breach their contracts with their customers, with impunity whilst allowing the Water Companies to increase the Customer's Bills. ENOUGH is ENOUGH - Thames Water CANNOT BE TRUSTED and MUST BE TAKEN INTO PUBLIC CONTROL NOW. There should also be a criminal investigation into the Company's operation and the collusion of the regulator's staff (and former staff who now work in the water industry).
The Government MUST ENSURE that the Customers are NOT made to pay for the Water Industry's fraudulent operations and the Regulator's TOTAL FAILURE to control them.
TAKE Thames Water INTO PUBLIC CONTROL NOW, to send a clear message to all other Water companies to clean up their acts.
Water Companies can be left in private ownership - just make it illegal for them to operate without an annually renewable UK Government Operating Licence, with strict performance criteria attached and strict limits on when and how much can be paid in salaries, bonuses and dividends; strictly linked to the companies performance against strict criteria (sewage pollution, fixing leaks, maintenance and investment in new infrastructure).
When a Private Water Company fails to meet it's set criteria, it's Operator's Licence can be revoked and all assets transferred to UK Govt. Water (without penalty). An under performing Private Water Company should be treated just like an unroadworthy / untaxed / uninsured car being driven on the road - it should be immediately confiscated and crushed.
UK Consumers have been forced to pay too high Water Bills and have been FAILED by successive Governments and the REGULATOR, who have allowed Water Companies to get away with fraud and asset stripping by borrowing large sums of money using the infrastructure as security and channelling that money out of the company to be paid as dividends.
You MUST ACT NOW.
Reply
Hazel Sharrad 2 weeks ago
Investing carries the risk of losing one’s money. The creditors took that risk and must accept the consequences.
Reply
Gillian Davies 2 weeks ago
Clean up the water and charge people for what people they use and STOP lining the pockets of the shareholders with OUR money
Reply
David Doodson 2 weeks ago
Save our rivers!
Reply
Mike Thompson 2 weeks ago
The huge majority want our national asset back.
Reply
Penny 2 weeks ago
Water should never have been privatised. It’s a utility that needs to be in public hands. Not with shareholders taking profits. Surely the general public are the share holders of a necessary resource.
Reply
Timothy Pettican-Runnicles 2 weeks ago
Water belongs in public hands
Reply
Janice Farley 2 weeks ago
You have literally drained Thames Water from its ability to serve its customers - the public who owned it back in the day. We have already paid for your personal financial gains, why should we pay further for your insidious greed and lack of ethics and governance.
Reply
Michael Faulkner 2 weeks ago
Stop the rot no one should profit from filthy water and environmental vandalism. Public ownership please
Reply
Michael Wright 2 weeks ago
I totally agree
Reply
Colin Hargreaves 2 weeks ago
Thanks for listening and taking action to take this essential service back into public control. Water management has to be the most important asset going forward and we will need every penny to rebuild the infrastructure necessary to supply clean water for all of us without damaging the land and waterways we live with. Please ensure that this is a cross party matter and ensure that this industry can never be a profit making machine going forward and all money paid by the public is used to maximum efficiency.
Reply
Patricia Romain 2 weeks ago
Keep control in Britain
Reply
Paul Bisson 2 weeks ago
Water is too precious a resource for it to be in the hands of people simply wanting to make a profit. Water is needed by everyone and every creature and plant. It is the lifeblood of our planet and needs protection not wasting or polluting. Please help us to cherish it, for all our sakes.
Reply
Paul Hiley 2 weeks ago
The water companies should never have been privatised - water is an essential for living and we have no choice in who we choose to supply our water. It is just a money making project for the rich at our expense. ALL the water companies should be taken back into government control and no compensation should be paid. The shareholders have been bleeding us dry for years.
Reply
Margaret Thompson 2 weeks ago
Thames Water is a disgrace. All water should return to the nation
Reply
Holly Taylor 2 weeks ago
Water is a precious resource and should be brought back into public ownership and never be in the hands of private investors who will not protect the interests of those who depend on it staying accessible, clean and affordable.
Reply
Paul Bisson 2 weeks ago
Please protect our water, our most precious resource on this planet. It is for everyone, it is not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit, or wasted and polluted.
Reply
Sara Squires 2 weeks ago
We need clean water without polluting our rivers with excrement, which this company is incapable of delivering - as their past record clearly shows.
Reply
Sara Squires 2 weeks ago
We need clean water without polluting our rivers with excrement, which this company is incapable of delivering - as their past record clearly shows.
Reply
Adam 2 weeks ago
tell these shady American hedge funds to get out of Britain
Reply
Moira Unsworth 2 weeks ago
We were told private companies can run services better and cheaper than the government, this is not proven to be untrue. Costs have risen, profits have risen, but water quality and service have fallen. Our water is polluted or drinking water not secure, End privatisation, water is not for profit, it belongs to us all.
Reply
Anne Davies 2 weeks ago
I agree wholeheartedly with Steven Isle’s comment.
Reply
Gina Stone 2 weeks ago
Water should be for people not profit.
Reply
Kate Calvert 2 weeks ago
Public services should be run in the public interest, not for private profit.
Reply
Norma Hunter 2 weeks ago
Public ownership of utilities is the only way to guarantee security
Reply
Susan Wheeler 2 weeks ago
Thames Water are a disgrace. They keep increasing our bills but the standards have gone down. Meanwhile shareholders taking millions off us.
Reply
Susan M Langham-Fitt 2 weeks ago
Public Utilities should not be owned by private companies whose role is profit for shareholders. The history of the last decades since privatisation has clearly demonstrated this error.
Reply
Andy Little 2 weeks ago
Labour must keep explaining to the public that Privatisation of any public service is a Lie. (Its good for a few rich shareholder parasites but at the direct expense of the general public) The water companies should be held up and publicly exhibited as the proof. Then look at the privatisation of the NHS. Eye services and ear services already gone to self interested private companies, among many others
Reply
Terence Martin 2 weeks ago
Water is an essential for life and should never be organised for private profit.
Reply
J. Mcdonald 2 weeks ago
Water which is fundamental for life itself should never be privatised...it must be under public iwnership in order to assure essential infrastructure has adequate investment to assure uncontam8nated rivers and waterways, and to assure that there is no wastage.
Currently burst piping is causing water shortages... we do not this problem in scotland where water is publicly owned !!!
Reply
Maggie Maguire 2 weeks ago
Water should belong to the people
Reply
Jim Selby 2 weeks ago
Water needs to be made public owned too much is going to share holders and not enough to environment
The standard has dropped and rivers are being poluted drinking water has been getting undrinkable
Reply
Roger Stone 2 weeks ago
More broadly, in addition to the sewage discharge disgrace across all the water companies we have the loss of 15% or so of drinking water from leaking mains at the same time as hosepipe bans. Rather than fix leaks the companies have reduced water pressure so that our supply pressure is FAR lower than in other countries and we can’t have a decent shower. If British Gas can supply gas without leaking it every where it should be MUCH easier not to lose water.
Reply
Alice Stewart 2 weeks ago
Private ownership of utilities should not be for profit or benefit of individuals.
Reply
Syed iliyas Hussain 2 weeks ago
Couldn't agree more
Public companies should not be there for purposes of profit
Reply
Tim 2 weeks ago
The privatised utilities should all be fined in shares so we can take back ownership and control appropriately.
Reply
paul berthold 2 weeks ago
Profits before services is their mantra. Water is a right, not something which can be bought & sold by billionaires to fund their increasingly extravagant lifestyles
Reply
Robin Ford 2 weeks ago
Re-nationationalise the lot!
Reply
Colin povoas 2 weeks ago
Thames water has failed to keep up with repairs and only increase prices above inflation for money orientated investors this should be a public service run by public all utilities should be
Reply
Mary-Anne Fiorini 2 weeks ago
Water should NOT be sold at a profit, it is a basic requirement for life.
Reply
Natalie Bartlett 2 weeks ago
We’ve got storm tanks overflowing in a heatwave, and the rivers are too full of phosphates to top up the reservoirs. Meanwhile shareholders and top execs are getting rich on dividends and bonuses, paid for by our sky high bills.
Reply
Daniel Abasolo 2 weeks ago
It is about time that water is owned by all of us and not by companies profiteering and polluting.
Reply
Hazel Coey 2 weeks ago
Our rivers have a voice! It is time to stop polluting our waters! We are killing the wildlife and our children are unable to enjoy the nature that they deserve!
I am ashamed looking at our dead dirty river, that I learnt to swim in, and catch sticklebacks as a child. What sort of country are we to continue to pour untreated sewage in our rivers and oceans? Profit before nature? How did this happen? Margaret Thatcher’s government had no right to sell our water! 💦 You can now put this injustice to rights if you wish to! Please do!!
Reply
James Ormiston 2 weeks ago
Water is not a commodity it's a neccessity! It should not be used to make profits.
Reply
Karol Steele 2 weeks ago
It is quite clear that privatisation is a disaster (as all the intelligent and sensible people said when Thatcher started this appalling process). ALL public utilities should be back in public hands, not just Water.
Reply
Paul Durston 2 weeks ago
We've drifted too far from the GROUP towards the INDIVIDUAL. We need to move back towards the GROUP.
Reply
John Cooper 2 weeks ago
Current privatised water companies shareholders must now share the cost of their company’s failures.
Reply
Robert Kirby 2 weeks ago
Utilities should never be sold off to the private sector
Reply
Kate Pellegrini 2 weeks ago
The privatisation experiment has failed the users in many sectors: water, post, railways, energy. All investment ‘products’ come with a warning before an investor commits their funds: ‘the value of shares can fall as well as rise’. The UK is the only country with privatised water, a NATURAL RESOURCE. Missing this opportunity to renationalise Thames Water will guarantee a huge defection of Labour supporters to the Greens in the next election.
Reply
E. Courshee 2 weeks ago
Who in their right mind allows FOREIGN investment companies to own a vital service like water without which we die!!!. Take back ALL services that belong to the public ultimately since they fund it through their bills. Thames waters owners have a shameful history with complete disregard for its customers and for the UK environment, their only goal, profit. For once lets put people first. But unless Thames water improves its infrastructure, builds new reservoirs, improves the ones already in service and stops giving itself massive pay rises and bonuses it is on a slippery slope with little chance of continuing. Already in debt by billions, Thames Waters foreign owners have fleeced the UK population without once putting back profits to benefit the people OF THIS COUNTRY. Don't even question the ethics of taking back what rightfully belongs to the people of this country, it should not be used as a tool to make money for foreign investors!! Insanity
Reply
Robert Kirby 2 weeks ago
Utilities should never be sold off to the private sector
Reply
Kevin Rowlands 2 weeks ago
Long overdue to stop being mugged by these greedy parasites, who want more whether they’re in profit or, more likely, in self created debt. All while directors and shareholders continue to milk the public while allowing river lake and sea pollution without punishment.
Reply
David Saunders 2 weeks ago
The behaviour of the management and shareholders of Thames Water has been predatory and venal. They are a disgrace and should no longer be allowed to pollute our waterways whilst constantly increasing their charges to consumers!
Reply
Carol Rodgers 2 weeks ago
The water companies have proved themselves absolutely useless at protecting our waterways from pollution. How on earth have they managed to accumulate so much debt. They are not fit for purpose. Please don’t allow them any leeway. Take them back in to public ownership.
Reply
Julia Dean 2 weeks ago
For this or any other water company to cling on for grim death to their autonomy simply because of their and their own shareholders interests is not only obscene but is a violation and destitution of their public trust and responsibility.
Reply
Susan Bains 2 weeks ago
Clean water, properly managed, is a basic right and something I feel strongly should be in public ownership. An elite should never profit from other people’s suffering and poor health.
Reply
Karen 2 weeks ago
Special administration now
Reply
Marion Kimberley 2 weeks ago
Water us a necessity. It should always be publically controlled and non-profit making
Reply
Brian Barham 2 weeks ago
After Water must come the return to public ownership all utilities stolen from us in the Thatcher years.
Reply
Dr Barney ROSEDALE 2 weeks ago
This ‘neoliberal’ farce has gone on long enough anis a proven failure. Please take back the Thames Water disaster and recognise the folly of privatising monopolies.
Reply
Rita Farrell 2 weeks ago
I agree wholeheartedly
Reply
Dennis Ford 2 weeks ago
Nationalisation without compensation
Reply
Carol Aviss 2 weeks ago
Failed water companies have FAILED for too long. People before greed.
Reply
Phil Fairish 2 weeks ago
The pollution created . And rising costs for the customers paying for it is fix is only one of the failings,.that is unacceptable while they are claiming huge bonuses for the share holders, that should have been spent on keeping the environment , rivers and seas clean , that create a health risk for the public that are expecting and paying for it .
Reply
Karen Berkley 2 weeks ago
we want our utilities nationalised we are fed up with the exorbitant charges we are charged by private utility companies, the only care about their shareholders.
Reply
Edmond John Starkey 2 weeks ago
The recent 2 part television expose about Thames Water titled “Dirty Business” said it all.
Reply
Vanessa Derry 2 weeks ago
Why do these people expect bonuses and shares. It’s failing. The answer is No.
Reply
Nikki Sinclair 2 weeks ago
There isn't a single privatised utility that works better under privatisation. The public were conned and are being ripped off constantly. Take Thames Water back into public ownership and prove to all privatised utilities you mean business. Do not use taxpayer's money to bail them out. Tie up public ownership so tightly that utilities can't be sold off again once taxpayers' money has improved them.
Reply
MARK RIDLEY 2 weeks ago
All water companies should be brought back into public ownership,
I hope the current Labour Cabour party will do this.
Reply
Tj Chaudhry 2 weeks ago
It’s about time the government did something positive for the people. Give them hope that we are not being ignored.
Reply
Mary Abi Antoun 2 weeks ago
The regulatory body should be disbanded and their jobs given to people who understand how important their work is. As a member of the public I rely on appointed regulatory bodies to do the job for which they are appointed.
Reply
Brian Southern 2 weeks ago
This industry needs to be cleaned up to one the public can trust without the pollution of our rivers.
Reply
Philip Fairish 2 weeks ago
Not supplying the customers with what they are paying for . A safe clean environment that is not a health risk to them that expected it as they face increasing bills for a failed fix,
Reply
Sami Robinson 2 weeks ago
Keep going Thames water can't win this fight.
Reply
Kathy Fyffe 2 weeks ago
It’s a disgrace. Poisoning our water supply should incur a life prison sentence. Making a profit from selling vital drinking water should be illegal.
Reply
Edmond John Starkey 2 weeks ago
Privatisation of this essential utility has proved to be a complete failure.
Reply
Kathy Ludbrook 2 weeks ago
There is no justification for private ownership of any public services, especially one as vital as Water. We cannot be held to ransom, be overcharged for a poor and dangerous service, and then be expected to pay more for it to be put right.
Reply
Anthony Rowe 2 weeks ago
As an individual I contacted my water company ignored.
Reply
Dave Quayle 2 weeks ago
Nationalisation is the only answer
Reply
Raynor Davie 2 weeks ago
A utility service should not be an opportunity for profit making enterprise. Full stop.
Reply
Sandra Abrams 2 weeks ago
Agree absolutely!
Reply
Andrea Byrom 2 weeks ago
For once, please strike a blow for democracy against the robber barons who have systematically asset-stripped an essential resource that should never have been privatised. Water is an essential to life and decency and cannot be entrusted to those who seek to exploit everything in search of more profit for the few.
Reply
Noeleen Grattan 2 weeks ago
Please listen
Reply
Clive Pritchard 2 weeks ago
Water is a national treasure and should be under public control.
Reply
Roger 2 weeks ago
As Mr. Spock once said,
"the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"
Reply
Joy McMahon 2 weeks ago
Privatisation was always a scam! How can a utility that has to pay shareholders be cheaper? Just corrupt MPs taking bribes to sell us down the river! It's got to be stopped now!
Reply
Meurig Jones 2 weeks ago
A law should be passed to bring in auditors to discover if shareholders have made back their initial investments as shareholders, and if they have they should not be compensated.
Reply
Rob Billinge-Hall 2 weeks ago
The current situation is ludicrous. Privatisation was about channeling money to the wealthy and wealthy corporations, many owned offshore. What is needed now is bold action to make water work for the people of this country, delivering significant investment in infrastructure, cleaning of rivers and the sea and reduced cost for consumers. Bold action. Management not oversight.
Reply
Alison Berry 2 weeks ago
Water companies should pay such a high fine/penalty equal to at least the total dividends and bonuses paid out of their funds since they were privatised to put our money back where it belongs- investing in the infrastructure and new technologies.
Reply
Stephen Parkes 2 weeks ago
Thames Water shareholders have milked the public for far too long with plenty of money going into their pockets rather than being used to improve vital infrastructure which is absolutely shameful.
Reply
Richard Wright 2 weeks ago
Make the companies pay, now!
Reply
Carlos Rodoreda Torres 2 weeks ago
We're just sick of seeing the services and quality of the water worsening while the bills get higher and higher. Creditors deserve to loose control. They got themselves in a muddy ditch and it's time they stay there. Let's take back control!
Reply
Richard Wright 2 weeks ago
Act now!
Reply
Richard Wright 2 weeks ago
Agreed.
Reply
Colin Ryan 2 weeks ago
Privatised water companies should be the same as water companies in Scotland , owned by the people run as a private company so that profits go back into the company and not shareholders pockets.
Reply
Angie Whiley 2 weeks ago
Time to take back control of our most precious resource, especially with AI needing so much of it.
Reply
Rosemary Humphrys 2 weeks ago
Mismanagement and creditors’ greed should not be the driving force
for our utility companies.
Reply
Mark Birchall 2 weeks ago
Renationalise all water companies
Reply
Elizabeth James 2 weeks ago
Tired of the tax payers footing the bill to rescue private businesses. The rich get richer whilst the rest of us get poorer
Reply
M. Peters 2 weeks ago
They made the problem so definitely fined a hefty amount & renationalised. They caused the problem with their greed and lack of investment.
Reply
Mary Birchall 2 weeks ago
Shareholders must not be allowed to profit at the expense of the public
Reply
PETER THORNTON 2 weeks ago
Currently not fit for purpose.
Reply
Graham Cook 2 weeks ago
Water is a vital national asset and should be owned nationally.
Reply
Jane Lumkin 2 weeks ago
Please do not allow Thames water creditors to retain control of water authority. They have forfeited the right to control a public utility by allowing the water supply to be polluted and without regular and necessary msintenance.
Reply
Diana Parsonage 2 weeks ago
I’m fed up with big companies robbing the public. Taking out money and still poisoning the water.
Reply
Jane Carroll 2 weeks ago
The behaviour of these companies is criminal. Or money has been taken and our environment has been devastated. Rivers are a danger to life and we now have a hosepipe ban because no provision has been made for the inevitable effects of climate change and hot weather. Managers should be prosecuted!
Reply
Lauraine McManus 2 weeks ago
The water companies should not be allowed to continue polluting our rivers and seas. It’s a disgrace
Reply
Malcolm Charles 2 weeks ago
Years of mismanagement and underinvestment, coupled with asset striping and environmental damage, of our water utilities & systems has to stop.
Reply
Judi Chrysanthou 2 weeks ago
I support what you are doing
Reply
Michael Shears 2 weeks ago
Southwest water is almost as bad with sewage spills ruining our beaches and the Brixham incident.
Our prices are astranomically high too
Reply
Anne Shears 2 weeks ago
For too long water companies have been allowed to get away with horrendous pollution issues. I live in the South West where we already have the second highest water bills in the country but too few reservoirs. We used to have blue flag beaches but I believe this standard has now been removed. Water companies need to be held to account for causing illness ( and even death) to bathers using seas and rivers, lack of maintenance in treatment works, lack of building new infrastructure to cope with all the new housing developments and causing disruption to water supplies as in the Devon Brixham incident of 2024.
Reply
Catherine Margham 2 weeks ago
The water companies have caused this problem so they should pay. The water companies should be brought back into public control and there should be strict regulations, to ensure thid pollution from sewers does not happen again.
Reply
John Taylor 2 weeks ago
I very strongly agree that all water companies should be nationalised. Those that are profiting from their investments should loose their money when we run our water companies.
Reply
Barbara 2 weeks ago
Water is the source of life. We should all own it. It should never have been privatised for profit.
Reply
Robin Hunter 2 weeks ago
An absolute scandal, public services and utilities should never have been sold in the first place. Water companies are a prime example of this.
Reply
Penny Mitchell 2 weeks ago
The behaviour of Thames Water is appalling
Reply
John Bevins 2 weeks ago
Please take back control of of our utilities.
Private control has not worked.
Reply
Anne 2 weeks ago
As part of an army of community water-testers, I'm fed up with seeing our rivers polluted over and over again, while the companies charged with protecting them treat the public as a cash cow, creaming off record profits and bonuses while neglecting the work we pay them to do.
Reply
Ursula Smith 2 weeks ago
Thames water are polluting and loosing water while lining their own pockets. Water is a basic human right and they are contaminting it.
Reply
Jason Eyre 2 weeks ago
I’m fed up of paying through the nose for water only to see the seas and rivers fill up with filthy effluent
Reply
Chris Mc 2 weeks ago
These shareholders have milked privatisation to death by failing to invest in the necessary infrastructure and loading Thames Water with debt through pure greed. Such behaviour must have serious consequences. Re-nationalisation MUST be that consequence.
Reply
Emily Clark 2 weeks ago
Shameful behavior that the public is paying for …
Reply
Gerald Samociuk 2 weeks ago
It’s time that the water companies share holders and executives were brought to justice. The pollution and poisoning of customers needs to be paid for from their profiteering. Do not be fooled by whatever promises they make for the future - they need to be punished and pay reparations for their wanton actions.
Reply
Roger Blackburn 2 weeks ago
Do what should have been done ages ago and return our natural resources to us.
Reply
Anne Whiting 2 weeks ago
I don't understand How a corporation, usually not British ,can take over a company ,load it full of debt, whilst paying executives,and shareholders vast amount in salaries and dividends, not fulfill their obligations to the customer
When tasked can say " OK give us a pile of money ,take over the mess and we will go away "
Reply
Sarah W 2 weeks ago
Water (and energy) companies should never have been privatised in the first place. You have an opportunity to right this wrong and national disaster - we urge you to please do the right thing.
Reply
Matt Grahame 2 weeks ago
Privatisation of water was a disgrace. It’s a monopoly. The private companies are only interested in their shareholders. It’s racketeering at its best! Consumers, and the environment, are being fleeced to line the pockets of corporate big business. It must end!!
Reply
Russell O’Donnell 2 weeks ago
We can’t keep talking about this. Action is needed now.
Reply
Katherine 2 weeks ago
Privatisation hasn't worked,take back control into public ownership
Reply
ML Cox 2 weeks ago
Private Equity take risks & get rewarded. They’ve taken £Bn out to reward themselves & delivered year on year worsening services.
The current Ofwat monitoring framework is not fit for purpose.
Our rivers are dying, polluting discharges are not punished.
The whole system needs a radical rethink.
Reply
Mark Taylor 2 weeks ago
Take back control 😉
Reply
Ash Smith 2 weeks ago
Our privatised water industry has become a cash extraction device that is harming people, the environment and the legitimate economy. It could easily be turned from a liability in private ownership, to a valuable public asset, wisely spending bills from 62 million people to create a clean and healthy future. It won't happen in private hands.
Reply
Paul Brant 2 weeks ago
This disgrace has gone on for far too long!
Reply
Phil Kenyon 2 weeks ago
Foreign ownership, foreign profits, foreign mismanagement and yet we pay their fines through our water bills. Get a grip government and protect your electorate from this foreign invasion. Do your job.
Reply
Robert Wood 2 weeks ago
No to compensation for people who've already made plenty of money
Reply
Susan Noone 2 weeks ago
Why would anyone be content to live in a country with dirty rivers and coasts when they have the power to reverse that situation?
Reply
Robin Blincowe 2 weeks ago
Public ownership of water companies is the only way to control excessive sewage discharges and maintenance of clean rivers and waterways. Our health & environment are too important to leave to wealthy CEO’s who only care about money.
Reply
Janet 2 weeks ago
Public ownership is the most viable option in terms of security, cost and can be a source of revenue for the state . Can you get back hold of the profit making land registry whilst you are at it please?
Reply
Patrick Bermingham 2 weeks ago
Capitalism is supposed to reward success not failure. All of our water companies were handed over without debt and substantial assets . These have been stripped and sold with debt substituting real value.
Reply
Vivien Brown 2 weeks ago
Water companies should not be given tax payers money, unless the taxpayers/gobernment are given a share of profits and dividends
Reply
Paul S 2 weeks ago
Water - is an essential resource and shouldn’t be for profit.
Reply
Dr H V Andrew 2 weeks ago
Public ownership is the only credible and honourable solution.
Reply
Jacqueline Campbell 2 weeks ago
To many water pollutions across the whole country.
Reply
Peter Darnborough 2 weeks ago
Utilities should not be privatised, experience has shown that it doesn’t work and that so called regulators are toothless. Bring back into public ownership and stop ruthless profiteering
Reply
Margaret Hobbs 2 weeks ago
Water is a precious and essential resource. Private companies have been given far too long already to show their lack of commitment to the public who need this resource. Please put water back into public ownership.
Reply
Chris Salt 2 weeks ago
After decades of prioritising shareholder dividends over essential infrastructure, Thames Water has collapsed into a cycle of systemic failure characterised by a staggering £15 billion plus debt mountain, industry-leading leakage rates, and the chronic discharge of raw sewage into the River Thames. Placing the utility into Special Administration is the only viable path to strip away the "brass neck" of financial mismanagement, ensuring that public health and environmental protection are finally prioritised over protected creditor returns and corporate negligence.
Reply
Peter Griggs 2 weeks ago
Water companies are a disgrace, they should all be brought back into public ownership. The private sector has again emphasised that profits for shareholders is the priority and not providing their contractoral obligations , truly corrupt and disgraceful. The management should be stripped of the money they have paid to themselves for stealing from profits they never actually made, call it fraud or corruption it’s totally unacceptable.
Reply
James Brooks 2 weeks ago
The UK was once widely know as the 'dirty man of Europe', then we joined the EU and had to stop the discharge of untreated sewage into rivers and onto beaches. Numerous 'Blue Flags' were earned in coastal resorts around the UK. Then we left the EU, investment fell, and the dividends to shareholders matched the sum needed for restoration of standards; about £76 billion. This is shameless profiteering. They had their chance and greed prevailed, now water must be returned to public ownership.
Reply
Richard Heath 2 weeks ago
Water companies have syphoned our money into the pockets of their shareholders for too long.
Reply
Graham Hudson 2 weeks ago
Water and Sewerage should be nationalised. Thames Water should be used as an example.
Reply
Olivia Agate 2 weeks ago
Clean water is a basic human right, not to make obscene profits from
Reply
Keith Horkan 2 weeks ago
I believe our water should be in public ownership.
Reply
Uzo Nwokolo 2 weeks ago
Water should never have been privatised. What’s next? Air?
Reply
Lynn Drake 2 weeks ago
I think it is now time to return this company to the public domain.
A sum of £20 billion debt is surely one step too far.
The share holders should not reap benefits from poor management and blatant disregard of the problems they are creating re the sewage discharges and pollution.
A government golden share is not an option.
Reply
Susan Eversfield 2 weeks ago
Water is an essential for everyone and should not be owned or controlled by a private group of people. It must be controlled in the interests of the public by the government.
Reply
Mat 2 weeks ago
I'd much prefer an inefficient public sector water corp, where PAYE staff pay their taxes than see that money being stripped out through dividends and debt structures (often offshore), by overseas private equity. Not only do UK customers benefit but also the the state & exchequer. Privatisation of monopoly sectors has failed, period. The debt these companies have racked up is a national disgrace. Prof David Hall from Grenwich University has publicly said that ALL the money invested has been raised by bill payers alone anyway since privatisation.
Reply
Dr Bernard Mooney 2 weeks ago
Nationalise water
Reply
Kirsty Newton 2 weeks ago
It is important that as a country we have access to clean affordable water. Cholera and Malaria are not things we want to bring back to our land
Reply
Rosemary Golding 2 weeks ago
It is frankly unbelievable that something as crucial to our continued existence as water should ever have been put in the hands of private companies who exist for the profit of shareholders. These companies have delivered nothing and been repeatedly bailed out at the public’s expense. All of them should be immediately nationalised
Reply
Martin lyttle 2 weeks ago
Water is essential resource
Reply
Dol Gwilliam 2 weeks ago
This greed and corruption has to STOP now
Reply
Jihn A Hamilton 2 weeks ago
Public ownership -- preferable to"extraction" of private profit.
Reply
Michael Juniper 2 weeks ago
This is a big scandal and we have been lucky not to have a major health scandal.
Reply
olive wholey 2 weeks ago
Words fail me - thankfully not those quoted above!
Reply
Nicky Bull 2 weeks ago
Clean water is both a necessity and a human right. It should not be used to make profits for shareholders!
Reply
Kathryn Barber 2 weeks ago
Thatcher and her greedy cronies didn't ask the people of this country, could our precious publicly owned utilities be sold off. Our NHS is the next to go. I pray our new government puts a stop to all this. Bring it all back under one umbrella. Make the private companies pay, take it all back for nowt.
Reply
Tony Young 2 weeks ago
Time to stand up for ordinary people and stop the dishonest profiteering. Renationalise the water companies!
Reply
Dominique 2 weeks ago
Private companies should be nowhere near public services. The business aims are completely incompatible. It's been shown in every sector that private companies siphon off public funds to line their pockets and the public is always worse off. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is either insanity or wilful negligence! Reject the deal and bring TW into public ownership.
Reply
Marianne Brett-Tellick 2 weeks ago
Water is a human right; not for profit! All the water companies should be dissolved and all water infrastructure taken into public ownership. Why should we take on their debts? We have been paying hefty bills all these years and they have been lining shareholders pockets with fake profits, while failing to invest in proper infrastructure to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency or even just deal with our sewage hygienically,
Reply
Harry Planche 2 weeks ago
You have full support
Reply
Jon Trigg 2 weeks ago
I’m sure following the recommendations in this letter will not only lead to the best outcomes for customers of Thames Water and their future provision but will also reflect well on you as a new minister and the Burnham government.
A bold move and the right move.
Reply
Barry Watts 2 weeks ago
I want profits from essential utilities to be used to improve those utilities - not paid out to hedge funds, shareholders and excessive management salaries and bonuses.
Reply
Rosalind Kent 2 weeks ago
I agree !!
Reply
Steven Donnelly 2 weeks ago
Water is a basic essential for all life. It should be controlled and run by the public for the publics benefit, and not by private corporations for profit.
Reply
Elisabeth Murray 2 weeks ago
Private ownership prioritises profit rather than investment to meet the needs of those who rely on these services. They should be publicly owned and run for the benefit of the public. You have the opportunity to do this - please don't waste it.
Reply
Ley Holloway 2 weeks ago
,
Reply
Cath Newnham 2 weeks ago
Water should be owned by nobody.
The state should ensure it's management and provision on behalf of everyone.
Reply
Zia 2 weeks ago
Water is a human right; not for profit! All the water companies should be dissolved and all water infrastructure taken into public ownership. Why should we take on their debts? We have been paying hefty bills all these years and they have been lining shareholders pockets with fake profits, while failing to invest in proper infrastructure to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency or even just deal with our sewage hygienically,
Reply
Sonia Jackson 2 weeks ago
No more 'hedging' and private in-equity. The results of this 1992 privatisation experiment are now plain to see, and we don't need to prolong the agony. Putting Thames Water into special administration is an opportunity to finally end one of the most shameful episodes in our economic history.
Reply
David Symes 2 weeks ago
We already know what a disaster public services in private hands has been over the last forty years. The only cure for this plague of sewage discharges is to put public services in public hands - which they never should have left in the first place!
Reply
David Polden 2 weeks ago
Having access to clean. sufficient water is a human right and clearly private companies have proved unable or unwilling to provide this, using profits to pay shareholders, managers and investors instead of investing them in maintaining and improving access to such water
Reply
mike highley 2 weeks ago
Whatever happened to the principle of the polluter pays? The water companies are getting away largely unpunished. Self-declaration of incidents needs to be backed up with effective enforcement. If the EA doesn't have the staff I believe there are a lot of people who would welcome a healthy outdoor job monitoring the environment, paid for by the fines revenue.
Reply
Keith Woodard 2 weeks ago
Thatcher wanted funds to pay for the Falklands War and also to stifle the Trade Unions with so many strikes. Similar thing with Council Houses! Net Result = Money making opportunities for Private Companies/Enterprise. Massive profits before investment to improve Services but at the cost to the end users - US (the essential public user)! Share Dividends and Bonuses should be IMMEDIATELY BLOCKED. Plus, I agree with many above - WHY allow UK essential services Company Shares to be owned by Non-UK people or Countries? Come On Andy - please sort it out!
Reply
Mr P Rushton 2 weeks ago
They have robbed us for too long.
Reply
Veronia Gayle 2 weeks ago
All profits from essential utilities should be used to improve those utilities - not paid out to hedge funds, shareholders and excessive management salaries and bonuses.
Putting this services back to public ownership is the way forward.
Judging by the lack of respect for the service they provide by avoiding and not keeping up with the standards that is required says it all.
Reply
Stuart Husbands 2 weeks ago
This is the most important area for privatisation, as each water company has a complete monopoly compared with other utilities such as electricity, and the most important element is the treatment of sewage. This should be the first group of companies that government deals with. Our rivers, seas and lakes are precious environments that need protecting from greed and exploitation and those who conspire to break the law and pollute should be held personally liable through the courts.
Reply
Frances Lofthouse 2 weeks ago
The Excutives of Thames Water should be in prison for continually ignoring the Law
Reply
Lee Farmer 2 weeks ago
Water is a basic right of life, not a money pit for shareholders and overpaid executives who quite clearly have absolutely zero interest in providing a quality service. I would think supplying the people of England with clean, affordable water, and protecting our enviroment far outweighs lining the pockets of the few. It's time to see who Ofwat and our Politicians truly support. Is it greedy shareholders or the people of England, our enviroment, and the wildlife?
Reply
george stewart 2 weeks ago
Water,water,everywhere and profits before people!
Reply
Amanda Alleyne 2 weeks ago
As a nation it is vital we take back control of our water supply and improve these utilities. The current situation is horrifying and untenable. Water supply and sewage management should be of the highest importance on any government agenda.
Reply
Peter Ellis 2 weeks ago
Water should be non profit, in fact electricity and gas should also be non profit also
Reply
patrick Timmons 2 weeks ago
Please take water back into public ownership privatisation has been an utter disaster.
Reply
Steven J Ball 2 weeks ago
My late father was a Thames Water emergency inspector, he loved his job, but as long ago as 1996/97 he was telling how he was disgusted by what was going on ie., Thames would rather pay the gov fine than do the repairs and maintenance, because some bright sparke on Thames board of directors saw it as a way of making profit for their shareholders...and all this time later look at the mess it's in...profit over services - NO THANK YOU
Reply
Richard Reed 2 weeks ago
Thames is not the only water company I have run afoul of. For three years, after my last swim in the sea in Hove, I watched as Southern took more money and poisoned our beautiful beaches. Now for 12 years I have withstood weeks without water, bickering over low pressure, and nearly complete traffic lock-in by Thames Water incompetence. I have no sympathy for private water companies and no trust for any government that gives in to their threats and deceptions.
Reply
Peter N 2 weeks ago
Thames Water is a Success. It has been extremely well run and has been highly successful in delivering it’s Business Objectives; to maximise profits by minimising service delivery and any investment; to use the infrastructure as collateral, against which to borrow the maximum possible loans; to pay the highest possible dividends; to reward the CEO and Directors with the maximum possible salaries, topped up with undeserved bonuses; to extract as much money as possible from the Company, safe in the knowledge that the Government cannot let the Company fail and will have to repeatedly inject cash to save it from bankruptcy.
Successive Governments have failed to act, allowing the Water Companies’ behaviour to escalate and for them to increase Customer’s Bills; whilst continuously releasing raw sewage and failing to fix leaks and invest profits into infrastructure.
Thames Water have repeatedly failed their Customers, the Environment and the Government. This behaviour WILL CONTINUE for as long as they are allowed to continue operating.
Reply
Nigel 2 weeks ago
The water companies make the Mafia look like a benevolent charity organisation. It is unbelievable that they are allowed to get away what they are, and more importantly are not, doing.
They should be banned from being allowed to increase bills, in fact told to decrease them significantly or face public ownership.
There should be a group prosecution of all water CEOs since privatisation
Reply
Kay Stevens 2 weeks ago
The standard of the quality of service your customers receive is dreadful, and your maintenance is pitiful. You cannot be allowed to continue raking in the profits.
Reply
Martin Large 2 weeks ago
Nationalise all utilities now
Reply
Robert Pendered 2 weeks ago
There isn’t another country in Europe that has a privatised water service & for good reason… look at the disastrous sewage filled rivers & sea resulting from Thatcher’s misplaced obsession with privatisation. OF COURSE it needs taking back into public ownership & NO compensation given to the companies that so shamefully mismanaged it.
Reply
owain rowlands 2 weeks ago
reject this deal, and place Thames Water into special administration without delay.
Reply
Alan Hearn 2 weeks ago
It's obvious Thatcher LIED and it's long past time to TAKE back everything that Pinochet-loving psychopath and the crooks that followed her STOLE from the public - water would be a good place to START!
Reply
Anne ("Nev") Neville 2 weeks ago
Well said Barry Watts.
Reply
Peter N 2 weeks ago
The Government needs to ACT NOW - show the corrupt Water Industry that they will no longer get away with leaks, pollution and their other unacceptable practices.
1) No more chances for Thames Water. Prosecute the Company, CEO and Directors for each and every instance of pollution over the last 10 years, under the existing legislation (Environment Protection Act) and press for maximum fines and jail sentences for those controlling the Company.
2) Immediately introduce legislation, requiring Water Companies to hold a Government Issued 'Water Supplier's Operators Licence' requiring them to operate within a strict set of rules
(including fixing leaks, NOT leaking untreated raw sewage, continuity of supply, the percentage of their annual profit that they MUST invest in repairs and new infrastructure, strict limits on the amounts they can pay in dividends and Executive Salaries etc, No Customer Price Increases for 10 years). When a Water Company fails to meet any of the criteria required by their licence it should be rescinded and all of the infrastructure and Customer base transferred to UK Plc, without payment. The Government should have on standby approved Contractors to operate under a fixed price annual contract, with a fixed profit margin.
The above is a mechanism whereby Water Companies can be taken back into Public Control and the infrastructure taken back into Public Ownership whenever a Water Company fails to operate correctly.
Reply
Colin Sutton 2 weeks ago
Say no to Thames Water creditors . Thames continue to dump & pollute our rivers & waterways . It has to stop NOW .
Reply
Chris Middleton 2 weeks ago
Why are the British people forced to turn over s much of their money to private monopolies in order to receive the essentials of life ?
Reply
Martin King 1 week ago
This needs to be a public owned utility
Reply
Janet Fairs 1 week ago
Prove that you are a government for the people and put a stop to all the corruption in Thames Water. Public ownership is the only way.
Reply
George Patrick 1 week ago
The water companies have shown over decades that they will use their monopoly to syphon of profits while completely ignoring the needs of the country and the people. They have used the money taken from us to pay the risible fines imposed upon them. Their management and shareholders have been insulated from the effects of their greed and mismanagement. I really hope that the PM acts to rectify this by nationalising them. If he does not, he'll prove to be just another bloody politician devoid of principles.
Reply
Robb Ford 1 week ago
Right on
Reply
Stephen King 1 week ago
As a basic necessity, water should never have been privatised in the first place. It's time to bring it back into public ownership.
Reply
Annie N 7 days ago
Our world today is the product of conniving leaders shuffling money into their pockets from hard working people, and private water is one of many examples of just how corrupt and opportunistic these thieves are wiling to be. It’s time to take them down. Prison sentences, debt collectors, the lot. They’ve stolen from us and here we sit in A DROUGHT of their doing. Disgusting.
Reply
Heather James 4 days ago
Why is the CEO receiving compensation of over £1,000,000 a year?? The only way Thames Water makes any money is by increasing bills. Why is he being rewarded for that?? Why are we being subjected to a hose ban by Thames Water when they persistently fail to mend leaks in a timely fashion- eg recently we had a leak in our road for over TWO weeks with a fountain/river of water before it was fixed - multiple times more water than a hosepipe would use to water the garden. Greed and corruption in the extreme and we are the ones who are expected to pay.
Reply
John Beardmore 3 days ago
No natural monopoly should ever be under private control. Out with the rent seeking capitalists, and please reverse the insanity of Thatcherism !
Reply
Linda Byford 2 days ago
Water is essential to life and should not be used for profit
Reply
carol 2 days ago
I cannot believe that I am commenting again on our water!!!!
I'm a pensioner and I'm so worried for my grandchildren growing up in a society of greed and mistrust!
These water "bosses" need to take a long look at themselves (if they can) and do the right thing and make our water pure and drinkable again. Not much to ask for ... we should not be paying for water that can make us ill. Clean it up!!
Reply