Dirty Water, the Minister, the Media and the Union
In an extraordinary interview on Channel 4 News, Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, was asked about public ownership of water in England, and stated:
“In any case, it is not guaranteed to work…and we know that from looking north of the border where, in Scotland, they have a nationalised water company but pollution levels in Scotland are worse than they are in England.”
“I’m not going to focus on ideology.”
It would cost £100bn to nationalise water companies and the government would have to take that money from the NHS and education, Environment Secretary Steve Reed tells @krishgm pic.twitter.com/ZCxseO62JJ
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) July 21, 2025
The claims, which went unchallenged, are completely untrue, and represent not just disinformation and deflection from the sewage scandal engulfing private water companies in England,, but a smear of the very idea of the public ownership of water. Labour are here defending the privatisation of the very water than rains from the sky.
The astonishing claims have led to Gillian Martin, the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, writing to Reed demanding a retraction of the statement and Stephen Flynn challenging him in the House of Commons. Because this wasn’t some throwaway line, a mistake in a live interview, because Reed repeated the statement on the Laura Kuenssberg show.
Why are Labour talking down Scotland? pic.twitter.com/I4t8hDhqHN
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) July 22, 2025
Now Ofcom are being involved Ofcom called in over Steve Reed’s ‘misleading’ Scottish water claim | The National.
So what are the facts?
In her letter to Reed Martin [Water quality in Scotland: Letter to Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] refers to the final report from the Independent Water Commission led by Sir Jon Cunliffe:
“The Commission’s report notes that 66% of Scotland’s water bodies are of good ecological status as compared with 16.1% in England and 29.9% in Wales. Whilst we of course need to be careful how these figures are used, as they are not calculated on the same basis, it is clear that Scotland has a higher performance. The report correctly points out that this is, in part, due to population density. However, it is also worth reflecting that much of the improvement is due to significant investment in the water industry to reduce pollution driven by Scottish Water and SEPA and efforts made by SEPA to address pollution from other sources such as agriculture.”
Martin also points to figures from SEPA [Record number of Excellent Bathing Waters in Scotland for 2025 | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency]:
“While there is clearly more to do, 87% of Scotland’s entire water environment is assessed by SEPA as having a ‘high’ or ‘good’ classification for water quality – up from 82% in 2014.”
But apart from the media fail here, and the routine need to spread disinformation about Scottish policy and practice, the Secretary of State for Environment is engaging in a political game. “I’m not going to focus on ideology” he states before doing that very thing. The norm here under Labour is privatisation. That state of being is not considered ideological at all – remember Anas Sarwar’s excuse for non-intervention over Grangemouth “It’s a private company.” Labour are the inheritors and the protectors of Thatcher’s ideology and are using it as an excuse to do nothing.
The Ideology of Water
This is not new. The problem is a crumbling sewage network, privatised public utilities and completely inadequate regulation. The problem is systemic and explicitly ideological. As author Edwin Hayward has said:
“UK water companies paid over £400 million in fines between 2010 and 2021, including a £4 million fine for Thames Water and a record £90 million fine for Southern Water in 2021. The consequence of this catalogue of failure is horrific. Up to 10% of days during the UK’s summer bathing season were lost to sewage in 2019. Water firms discharged raw sewage on over 400,000 occasions in 2020. Every single one of England’s rivers would fail a cleanliness test as of 2021. NOTE: The problem is that these fines, while superficially large, represent only a tiny fraction of each firm’s income, so it will always remain cheaper for them to pay up and keep polluting than take corrective action — unless the law compels them to seek a lasting solution.”
Labour’s Secretary of State for Environment position is one of corporate capture and his interview reveals a constant current in their thinking: we can do nothing. The think-tank Common Wealth has completely demolished this position: How to Clean Up Our Water: Why Public Ownership in Law Costs Zero
They state: “We all want to stop private companies dumping sewage in our rivers, beaches and lakes, and clean up our water for good. The Government, however, has repeated a claim from water industry lobbyists that it would cost £99 billion to “nationalise” our water sector. It refuses to stop shareholders and bondholders raising bills and taking the money, rather than investing in clean infrastructure as a public company would. This note explains why the £99 billion figure is nonsense. The true and fair value in law to bring water into public ownership is close to zero.”
Bills are soaring, sewage is everywhere, as shareholders and banks take billions.
- Water company bills are being hiked by thirty-six per cent over the next five years, allowed by Ofwat.
- Nearly every river in England is polluted, through illegal dumping of untreated sewage.[1]
- Our bathing water quality is the fifth worst in Europe.[2]
- Over £85.2 billion in real terms has been taken by shareholders since privatisation in 1989.[3]
- A similar figure, tens of billions, has been taken by bondholders.[4]
- Water companies’ total debt stands well over £65 billion.[5]
- Thames Water has £20 billion debt, and Wall Street banks are extracting £800 million for a new loan.[6]
- Over one trillion litres of water was leaked by last year, and this is nothing new.[7]
- No major new reservoir has been built since privatisation, but thirty-five reservoirs have been sold.[8]
This all adds up to a simple equation that explains our predicament:
Privatisation = £ billions to share/bondholders = starved infrastructure = sewage everywhere
Thus, whether the Cunliffe Report or the Treasury says it, the problem is privatisation. England’s privatised water system is extreme. No country in Europe has privatised its water as we have done; ninety per cent of cities worldwide have water in public hands. Cities like Berlin and Paris that did privatise their water have taken it back into public ownership (in 2013 and 2009 respectively).[9]
It’s hard to see where this goes, Labour’s position is indefensible and the mounting rage against the state of sewage and pollution in rivers and beaches is rising. The Minister needs to correct the record, retract his statement and stop deflecting. But it also shows the reality of privatisation – a public resource, a public need – monetised for the profit of the few – is now openly described as being unreformable by the Minister responsible.
Notes from Common Wealth:
[1] “Surface water status”, Defra, 2019, Table 1, showing 0.1% of rivers (and beaches and lakes) have “high” status (which is unpolluted), just 16% with “good” status, 63.9% “moderate”, 17% “poor” and 2.9% “bad”. Available here.
[2] “European bathing water quality in 2021”, European Environment Agency, 2022, showing Albania with 68.1% of bathing waters rated excellent. Available here. The UK had just 66.4% of bathing waters excellent: “2023 Statistics on English coastal and inland bathing waters: A summary of compliance with the 2013 bathing water regulations” Defra. Available here.
[3] D. Jordan, “Water investors have withdrawn billions, says research”, BBC, 20/05/24. Available here. Ofwat argued the true figure is £52 billion, which is not adjusted for inflation. It is unclear why Ofwat would prefer a non-adjusted figure.
[4] Author’s calculations. See footnote 14 for more details.
[5] L. Barr, “UK water firms drowning in £65bn of debt with cost of repayments set to soar due to inflation (but they’re still paying shareholders huge dividends)”, This is Money, 2023. Available here.
[6] C. Parke, “Thames Water’s £3bn loan to stave off collapse despite ‘eye-watering’ terms”, Evening Standard, 18/02/25. Available here.
[7] A. Kersley, ‘Water firms in England and Wales lost more than 1tn litres from leaks last year’, The Guardian, 08/09/24. Available here; M. Powell, “Water firms lost more than a TRILLION litres last year”, Daily Maily, 21/08/22. Available here.
[8] J. Clover, “Water firms in drought-hit UK flogged 35 reservoirs in five years – and built just two”, The Mirror, 20/08/22. Available here.
[9] “Europe’s Water in Figures”, Eur Eau, 2021, p. 12, Figure 9. See also Annex 33. Available here.
One thing the Scottish Government could and should do is kick the water companies out of Scotland. They are taking an unearned profit from us too at the expense of our infrastructure and our water bills. Scottish Water, publicly owned is treated as a cash cow and the Scottish Government seem completely unable to do anything about it. Here, as in England, the water industry is actually above the law. How is this possible? Who dictates to governments?
In England, the water companies blatantly take the money, do nothing at all for the public benefit, dump sewage in rivers and on beaches, and run off to their owners and senior managers’ offshore bank accounts. In Scotland the only difference is that because Scottish Water is nationalised as has responsibility for the infrastructure, the rivers and beaches are kept reasonably clean – at public expense.
There is no justification whatsoever for the piracy we are subjected to, and it is a lie when Scottish Water tell us that all the money we pay in charges goes into investment. The pirate water companies rip us all off. Although all the water is sourced, treated, piped and taken away by Scottish Water, all non-domestic premises, even those with no water or drainage connection (!) are billed by so-called ‘retailers’ for services they might not have requested, agreed to, or received. I am aware of one case for example where Anglian Water billed a local microbusiness for thousands of pounds although it had no water or drainage connection. A ‘supply point’ had been set up for every business due to pay business rates, and handed out to this English water company – without telling the occupier!
The water companies do nothing at all to justify taking any profits. Their business model is to extract the cheapest possible price from the only ‘wholesaler’, Scottish Water, and pas on the savings to their corporate volume user friends. Buying the water is entirely a paper transaction. They maintain no infrastructure (thank goodness) and the only service they provide is (largely automated) customer billing which amounts to demanding money with menaces – i.e. criminal extortion in Scotland. Because they ‘buy’ this water at below cost price, Scottish Water introduced standing charges to cover their losses. These of course impact the smallest businesses the most. The Scottish Government has meekly accepted all this and even tries to make business consumers liable to subsidise these unearned profits. The standing charges are supposed to pay for ‘roads and premises drainage’. Scottish Water have confirmed to me that they do not do this in fact. The money simply disappears and nobody takes any responsibility for providing the service paid for. The Highland Council do not claim any revenue and will not explain why. At least in the business sector, it is clear that water bills are a matter of commercial contract, although the water companies clearly believe themselves to be above the law and entitled to bully and harass people with impunity.
Domestic users are required to pay charges as a tax, through the Council Tax. These charges are not subject to any democratic oversight at all, and Scottish Water put them up earlier this year, to invest in the infrastructure. These price rises cannot be justified because in reality they just subsidise the private water companies.
As I said the private water companies, whose lack of any ethical standards are on full display in England, are simply pocketing our money too, with no justification at all. And the Scottish Government actively enables this scandal. Who or what is it so afraid of?
I have taken this up with Scottish Water, several water companies, the Water Industry Commission, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, MSPs, the Scottish Government, Audit Scotland, the police and the legal profession. There has been absolute silence from all of them.
So while it’s true that our water quality and environmental standards are far higher than England, and UK politicians are notorious for telling malicious lies, it’s time to demand that the Scottish Government act on our behalf and kick these pirates out of Scotland altogether. Who or what are they all so afraid of? I think we should at least be told that.
I lived in the northwest of England when they privatised the water companies. Within a couple of years our local water company had a problem – a long dry spell.
I assumed that my contract with the water company meant that they were contractually obliged to continue to provide my service, and for a while we saw tankers filling reservoirs.
I soon discovered that the risks had not been privatised, and a hosepipe ban was imposed. I was astounded that nobody threatened to sue the companies for breach of contract. Everyone passively accepted that the “contract” was a figment. Ever since then it has been obvious that the English water companies were taking the piss.
In recent years there has been improved monitoring and publicity about pollution in England. A problem for Scotland is our sparse monitoring of water quality. We can take part in monitoring by taking part in a WaterBlitz https://earthwatch.org.uk/greatukwaterblitz/
The funniest part of this is that many Labour figures in Scotland were key to preventing the Thatcherite privatisation of water in Scotland, including Labour run Strathclyde Council who held a referendum on it. Labour could be claiming Scotland’s public water as a Labour win and a reflection of Labour values. But they drank the Thatcherite coolaid and now they are reduced to the big lie.
I am sure that most Labour representatives in Scotland still believe that water should be in public hands and not private sector. However as we have observed with so much of Labour up here it is party before principles and hatred of SNP and independence that trumps any principles or concern for public good.
It’s fair to say that the Labour Party is now advocating for privatisation of water in Scotland.
The best way to not put that at risk, as with so much else, is independence.
Where was the famous BBC Verify, when these lies by a government minister were broadcast on Kuenessberg Sunday Show !!
I have tweeted Steve Reed, as well as emailing him while cc’ing the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards and Ch 4 News, to ask if he’s apologised yet or if he will resign.
Still not a single on the BBC about Gillian Martin MSP’s letter, though I’ve tried to draw their attention to it and it’s covered by STV, The Times, The Independent, MSN, Morning Star and others.
I think this is all very very unfair on Mr Steve Reed. He is & always has been a congenital liar & I am deeply encouraged to see that he is maintaining his status as one. I’d also suggest that he is corrupt to the very core – meetings with financiers etc with an interest in Ingerlish water, doubtless donations to Mr Reed, the usual stuff which most LINO politicians do to feather their own nest (whilst ensuring that the English continue to swim in turd filled rivers). Mr Steve Reed is a very great success……for himself. I am somewhat surprised that his English constitutents don’t get a recall petition going – but in fairness, the English are, for the most part spineless, nutless, gutless forelock tugging serfs.
As an English Scot (never ‘British’) I have to agree with him, but need to point out that the same sadly applies to many Scots. The Scottish Government are probably as corrupt but better at hypocrisy.
As I have said before, the same companies that fill England’s rivers and beaches with swage would do the same to us if they could. But as Scottish Water is a nationalised company they just treat it as a cash cow and leave us, the public, to subsidise the unearned, unjustified profits they make in Scotland. For some reason they are above the law here in Scotland and so ‘entitled’ to do as they please. And nobody I have tried to raise this with – from the companies themselves, to Scottish Water, the Water Industry Commission, the SPSO, MSPs, Audit Scotland, or the Scottish Government itself, will confirm or deny anything or explain why. Somehow, it’s always someone else’s problem.
Anyway, the fact that our rivers and beaches are relatively clean is because we all pay for that through increased water charges, while th pirates run off laughing to the bank with their illegal and undeserved overhead.
So this isn’t about English vs Scots. It’s about a culture of corruption and impunity that affects the whole UK, not just Westminster.
Very fair comments Mr Wood & indeed, the problem is both in England and Scotland. I hope the Scots go for independence, I hope they turf out the “passel of rogues” (blood suckers/parasites etc), but it still leaves the question: why those in authority, in Scotland have allowed this state of affairs to continue.
A very good question. I suspect it’s an internalised colonial / military mindset, of deference and doing as you are told.. The so-called ‘Scottish cringe’ . It’s a deep seated lack of confidence, a sort of Stockholm syndrome.
That’s how it looks to me anyway.
It’s a good question, which you should address to them rather than me. My guesses are (1) that the Scottish government have internalised a colonial attitude of deference and lack the confidence to stand up for us (2) that some sort of secret ISDS arrangement is in place ( https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/investor-state-dispute-settlements-have-catastrophic-consequences) and / or (3) this involves ;crown immunity’ in some way.
Unfortunately whatever the reason, they are all clearly sworn to silence. After five years of trying, I have been unable to get any real response at all to my enquiries from the Scottish Government, the industry, the Ombudsman, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, Scottish Water, Audit Scotland, the police or the legal profession. The only answer is either ‘that’s just how it is ‘, or ‘it’s not our problem (passing the buck).
This makes a complete mockery of democracy and the rule of law. But please never equate my disappointment with the Scottish Government and its acolytes with any sense of Unionism on my part. Westminster is clearly even worse.
We need real independence, from corporate corruption and ‘entitlement’ as well as Westminster. Unfortunately any ‘independence the SNP deliver would clearly be in name only. It would really just be exploitative business as usual. It’s why we really need a new party or political campaign with some clear commitments and goals.