Water privatisation has been a disaster. It’s a rip-off, services aren’t good enough and our waterways are filthy. We tried regulating bonuses. They found a loophole anyway. Half-measures aren’t working. It’s time to bring water into public ownership.

This won't solve the problem The real culprit is Ofwat. It allowed the leveraging of the water companies and extraction of capital by financial engineers AND it signed off inadequate business plans that artificially kept bills low by avoiding necessary reinvestment in the assets Now we have decrepit assets and no money to fix them. Bills must rise Some of this is fair... People did benefit from bills being kept down in the past But some isn't... The (legal) capital extraction allowed by Ofwat should have at least in part be spent on the asset base Nationalising the water companies won't solve the problem of needing to spend money upgrading the assets And there's a risk it makes it worse because civil servants at Ofwat caused the problems and nationalising the sector would put civil servants in charge of these companies. I'm not sure how confident I would be they could do a better job than water industry professionals The trouble is the execs that participated in the problems are long gone. Current water execs are carrying the can for a problem they didn't create

Water firms dump sewage, pile up £60bn in debt, pay £85bn in dividends, and ministers still refuse to bring water back into public hands. If 82% of the public wants change, what exactly is the Government defending? Rivers or shareholders?

@ChildOfAlba I thought our water was in public ownership. Ah that’s right, I live in Scotland so it is.

Fascinating. It's just that everything about water is better than it was when it was all nationalised. The supply is cleaner, the rivers are cleaner, there has been vastly more investment....

Decades of privatisation haven’t delivered: bills up, sewage everywhere, bonuses untouched. Regulation keeps chasing loopholes while the public pays for failure. If a service is essential, accountability should be too — public ownership deserves to be back on the table.

Thank you @itvmeridian and @kitbradshaw for having me.

Here in Wales Welsh water ( DWR Cymru) is not nationalised but a not for profit company, all profits go straight back into infrastructure and investment in new pipelines . There are no shareholders to worry about and our wayer is top grade compared to the rest of Britain.

I'm not a fan of nationalisation, it gives more power to the Unions. but in this case I wholeheartedly agree. Essential Services should not be run for the benefit of shareholders.

Water is one of those natural monopolies that do not benefit from market forces

What nonsense you talk. Try this:

@Matt_Q_OnX Yes, but it's a manufactured problem for which they will provide a 'cure'. They will instigate a National Infrastructure Project to STEAL Scotlands water. Sadly most English people will think that acceptable.

And fine water companies for breach of contract, they don't get to walk away, profiteering from their greed and ineptitude.

Renationalise water. Obviously it is the only way forward. So why doesn’t this hopeless government do it?

What’s being done about the raw sewage being pumped into rivers/sea? Watching Dirty Business on C4 is just horrific. More needs to be done to hold these water companies to account and quickly. It’s an absolute scandal!

Well said Neil

Are out waterways filthy really? How’s your drinking water? What would the government do differently ?

How much will this cost? Where is the cost benefit analysis?

All amenities...should be included as well as rail and post. No profits should ever be taken ...

Well said! Thank you. @We_OwnIt @Feargal_Sharkey @labourlewis @ZackPolanski

One of those rare & precious occasions, a Labour MP making sense - Thank you

It's correct to suggest that there's no meaningful incentive for privatised water firms to behave ethically. But hard graft has been substituted for efficient action. Efficiency should be an addition to old-fashioned hard graft. Not an excuse to side-step it. @NeilForPoole

Defect to Green Party.

NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"In the 1940s, 50's, 60's and 1970's UK water pollution was severe, with many rivers considered "dead" or severely polluted due to industrial waste, untreated sewage, and agricultural runoff" Yep, much better before privatization. 🙄

It hasn't been a disaster if the aim was to line the pockets of a few

#NationaliseWater

@missTfied66 Thatcher and Tories persuaded everything privare ownership would be efficient, save money, better run, better services. What a con.

Electricity next,

@HelenGothel Starmer is a disaster

💯%

Now's the time

Conflating several things, ignoring the fact that Welsh and Scottish water are already nationalised (and dump sewage in rivers and jack prices), ignoring the fact that the NHS is a shambles, ignoring the Post Office scandal. “Public ownership” tends to mean “Government run”. Which incentivises arse-covering and lack of transparency.

Why is it taking so long to re-nationalise ?

Water and hygiene are key to life. As such they are a human necessity not a business. They should never have been privatised.