Water privatisation expose

 Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead John Cryer exposes the vagaries of water privatisation - 

"The Water Bill was largely technical but it brought home a number of facts about the water industry which are worth setting out in detail. The wretched track record of the energy industry’s Big Six often features in the media whereas water gets little attention. This is slightly odd as the water industry’s record is abominable.

Since privatisation, £40 billion has been paid in dividends by the water industry while executives have awarded themselves vast pay rises, some of them receiving more than £1 million a year.

Investment has fallen since 2007 and leaks have only been slightly reduced. Bills have risen consistently by more than inflation for years and some by far ahead of inflation. These companies are supplying water from the same reservoirs through the same pipes as was the case under public ownership. And the industry was never owned by the government; it was owned and run by local water boards, thus the Thatcher government had to take the industry off these local bodies before flogging it off."

Well said, John.