𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The Government has shared an update amid calls for the UK’s water companies to be nationalised. It comes after a petition was signed by more than 150,000 members of the public.

The petition, which can be viewed on the Parliamentary petition website here, has asked for a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership. Petition creator, Ashley Paul Smith, claims this would “give the public back its voice”.

He wrote: “Hold a binding national referendum on whether the water industry should be returned to public ownership.

“Water is a basic human necessity; we believe our privatised system has failed, so the public should decide who owns and controls it.

“Private water companies have about 62 million captive customers whose bills have delivered over £85bn to shareholders; money that in public ownership could have been spent on fixing our infrastructure.

“No other country in the world has privatised water like this. We believe that proposed Government reforms to regulation show that water company owners are being favoured over the public, and this is not right in a democracy.

“A referendum would give the public back its voice about its water.”

It has now been confirmed that Parliament will debate the matter on September 14, something that must be considered if a petition reaches 100,000 signatures.

Previously, the Government did respond in writing to the petition in April – but the country is about to see a new Prime Minister take over. Andy Burnham said in June that he was keen to see greater public ownership of utility companies.

The Financial Times also reported this week that Burnham is set to make an announcement on “the water industry” within weeks.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said back in April, weeks before Burnham won a by-election that is about to bring him to Downing Street: “Nationalisation would take years and involve complex legal processes, diverting effort from cleaning up rivers, lakes and seas. We are taking action now through stronger regulation and enforcement.

“The Government recognises the strength of public concern about the performance of the water industry. Water is a vital public service, and people rightly expect clean rivers, reliable services and greater accountability from water companies.”

It continued: “Some campaigners have called for a binding referendum on returning the water industry to public ownership.

“However, the Government has no intention of nationalising the water sector currently and does not believe that a national referendum would deliver faster improvements for customers or the environment.

“Any move to nationalisation would take many years to implement, involve significant legal and operational complexity, and risk prolonged uncertainty and disruption across the sector. That would divert time, energy and attention away from the urgent work needed now to tackle sewage pollution, protect public health and improve water quality.”

You can read the full response online here. You’ll be able to watch the debate in September online on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.