“With Thames and the other water companies performing so abjectly, no wonder that – far from being a fringe demand – public ownership of water is supported by mainstream public position.”
We’re in the middle of the deepest cost-of-living crisis in generations, which has become a permanent cost-of-living emergency for millions. Yet the whole political establishment seems intent on never-ending austerity.
As a new Government approaches, we need to mobilise for policies that could address the depth of the crises we face, including the 10 Workers Can’t Wait demands. To help build this campaign initiative, we are publishing a daily blog on the importance on each of these demands. Today, Matt Willgress looks at why we need public ownership to stop the corporate rip-off.
Not a week goes by without more stories about the scandals and problems besetting Britain’s private water companies, most notably the possible collapse of Thames Water, which is in deep financial trouble, despite taking billions out of the company in loans and dividends.
Disgracefully, it was revealed at the end of last year that Thames Water had pumped at least 72 billion litres of sewage into the Thames since 2020.
As the pop star campaigner on this issue Feargal Sharkey has put it, “Every river in this country is polluted.” And it’s the profiteering private water companies who are to blame.
With Thames and the other water companies performing so abjectly, no wonder that – far from being a fringe demand – public ownership of water is supported by mainstream public position. 69% supported nationalisation of water when asked by both Survation in 2022 and YouGov is 2023, and this number is now only likely to be growing.
The case for it is crystal clear. Water is a natural monopoly, there is no market for consumers – and that is why 90% of the world runs water in public ownership, including Scotland, where Scottish Water was never privatised.
Globally, 311 cities and 36 countries brought water back into public hands between 2000 and 2019.
In the example of water – and many other examples of privatisation – we see private companies making obscene profits from what should be public services ran for the people not profit. These massive sums of money could instead be invested to improve services, to give their workers a pay increase and to lower costs for consumers. In other words, everyone would win other than the polluters and profiteers.
Water nationalisation was established Labour Party policy for a number of years. But just as the situation in the real-world in recent years has made the need for this even more obvious, the front bench has moved further away from it, citing a “constrained fiscal environment”.
And as readers will know, this is the case with other parts of the economy too, including energy, where the Party leadership has made clear its intention to ignore Party Conference policy. Again, this is not to do with popularity – 66% support public ownership of energy.
Public ownership in this area is again just common sense, with privatisation leading to higher bills and colder homes.
Over 3 million households in England are experiencing fuel poverty, with 50% of those surveyed stating that they had turned off heating when it was still cold in order to save money.
The crises caused by soaring energy bills and the scandal of raw sewage being dumped into rivers have highlighted the failures of privatisation for millions in a very real way. And they have come on top of the problems after problems caused by railway privatisation over recent years and decades.
They also give the perfect opportunity to make the case for a fresh start and put the public interest ahead of private profit.
As the ‘Workers Can’t Wait’ demand reads in full, it’s time to “Stop the corporate rip-off,” with “public ownership of energy, water, transport, broadband and mail to bring bills down, end fuel poverty and lower public transport costs.“
This should be accompanied by “higher taxes on profits and the super-rich,” and in order to really tackle the greedy profiteers, it’s tied to “open the books [and] back the workers’ commission on profiteering.”
But we should expect little from Starmer, Reeves and Co. On this score, it has been clear for some time that, whatever pledges were made when running for leader, the current leadership have consistently prioritised staying in the good books of those who have done well for themselves out of the current mess, ahead of advancing the change we need.
Indeed, the shifts of Labour’s front-bench can’t be separated from its overall project of making sure the party becomes the “first eleven” for the economic establishment.
But, after the Tories are thankfully kicked out and a Labour Government formed in July, we shouldn’t see the position of any government as something automatically fixed.
A strong labour movement rooted in our communities and taking the right initiatives can force real change. One step towards that is the building the ‘Workers Can’t Wait’ campaign, using this election and the period afterwards to raise the demands which could begin to address the scale of the crises austerity economics have created.
- You can find the Worker’s Can’t Wait demands – and join over 22,000 in adding your support here.
- We’re publishing a series of articles for each of the Workers Can’t Wait demands, you can find them as they are published here.
