Water Briefing: ‘Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the private water companies for running a ‘crumbling’ system and reiterated the Labour Party’s intention to bring them back into public ownership.

Labour analysis of Ofwat figures has revealed that since privatisation of the water industry, the value of water companies for shareholders across England has almost quadrupled. It also says 20% of water is lost through leakages before it reaches homes with over 7.5 trillion litres lost between 2010 and 2017.

A statement issued by the Labour Party said:

“Despite their ballooning value, companies are continuing to fail customers, with investment in water supply infrastructure lower than it was in 1990 and household bills up 40 per cent.”

Commenting on a visit to the historic Abbey pumping station in Leicester today, the Labour Party leader criticised the lack of investment in the water industry under private ownership and said Labour would bring water back into public ownership “so it works for customers, not shareholders.”

Speaking ahead of the visit, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn MP said:

“Water should be provided for public good, not private profit. Thanks to the failures of privatised water companies, our water infrastructure is crumbling, and people are forced to pay through the nose for services.

“Under Labour’s plans to bring our water system into public ownership, profits will be reinvested so that households across the UK have better services and lower bills.”

Commenting on the analysis released by Labour, Rebecca Long Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary, said:

“These figures show that the current water system is broken. It cannot be right that private companies are ballooning in value while customers pay the price in poor services and rising bills.

“These companies operate regional monopolies, giving customers no choice in who supplies their water.

“Labour will replace this dysfunctional system with a network of regional, publicly-owned water companies. Surplus profits will be reinvested in improving vital infrastructure and reducing customer bills.”

Responding to Jeremy Corbyn MP’s comments today, Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of Water UK, said:

“As an industry we’ve invested £150bn since privatisation, which has helped to cut leakage by a third and improve services. Water companies have just announced plans to invest an extra £10 billion a year to improve the water network, cut bills in real terms, and reduce leakage even further – all based on the views of over 5 million customers. In making the investment needed by the industry to tackle the big challenges posed by climate change and an increasing population, it’s not clear that government-owned water companies would win the fight for taxpayers’ money every year in competition with health and education.”

On Monday this week the water industry in England set out an ambitious new vision for the 2020s with the publication of A Manifesto for Water. It revealed plans for a major investment programme in services, a 16% cut in leakage, an over 4% real-term reduction in bills, and a 90% increase in help for people who struggle to pay. It also includes a new programme for helping the environment which will see 8000 km of rivers cleaned and improved.’