The Green Party has called for a halt to all further dividends to water company shareholders until the privatised monopolies – including United Utilities – end dumping sewage into the UK’s waterways and coasts. Rivers up and down the country are facing an assault from all directions, made all the worse by inaction from government, water companies and regulatory bodies.
The situation we currently have across the country where water companies can, almost with impunity, dump sewage into our rivers, waterways and coastal waters cannot go on. Greens are calling for a halt to all dividend payouts to shareholders until these companies sort their sewage out. After years of failing to invest adequately in infrastructure, the private monopoly model is broken.
The water industry cannot continue to be rewarded for failure. The £57bn paid out in payouts to shareholders over the last 30 years and hugely inflated salaries of water bosses should have gone towards improving standards. Instead, these companies have been awash with profits and leaking funds towards shareholders.
Not only should shareholder payouts be halted immediately, but ultimately, to end leaks, stop sewage discharges and cut bills we need to take the water supply back into public ownership, which is what the Green Party believes must be done at the earliest practicable opportunity.
Anti-privatisation campaign We Own It argues that England’s privatised water industry is broken and that bringing the sector into public ownership will deliver better results for people and the planet. They argue that Scottish Water – which is still in public hands – invests more in infrastructure to tackle leaks and sewage. The group also highlights that the vast majority of countries have a publicly owned water system.
Polling carried out by Survation has found that 69 per cent of the public think water should be in public ownership.
