Turn failing water firms into not-for-profit cooperatives, MPs and mayors tell PM
Labour politicians and regional mayors are proposing that failing UK water companies be converted into not-for-profit cooperatives. This model aims to increase public control and improve infrastructure investment without adding to the government's national debt.
Why it matters
It offers a potential solution to the ongoing sewage pollution crisis and financial instability of water utilities like Thames Water while avoiding the political and economic costs of full nationalization.
A union flag floats downstream from a polluted tributary of the River Deben, near a storm overflow at Wickham Market, Suffolk. A union flag floats downstream from a polluted tributary of the River Deben, near a storm overflow at Wickham Market, Suffolk. Water industry Turn failing water firms into not-for-profit cooperatives, MPs and mayors tell PM Labour politicians say mutualised model puts public in control without adding debt to government’s balance sheet
Prefer the Guardian on Google MPs and mayors close to Andy Burnham have told the prime minister there is a “third way” tlauo gain more control of failing companies, as the row over whether or not to nationalise Thames Water rumbles on.
Burnham is said to be concerned about the increase in government debt that Treasury projections show could be a result of nationalising water companies.
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