Professor Sir Dieter Helm sets out the arguments against nationalisation and the status quo.

Mention Thames Water (“Thames”) and eyes tend to glaze over. How could the great promises of privatisation have come to this? Across the industry, most try to keep their distance in case the Thames experience undermines their own reputations. On most metrics, Thames fails the test of what it is reasonable to expect of a water company: its sewage discharges, its leaking pipes, its customer service, its executive pay, its opaque ownership structure, and its indebtedness and past dividend payouts.

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