Thames Water know a thing or two about shit. Whether it is pouring it into our disgustingly over-polluted waterways, or shitting all over the public with its creaking infrastructure and crap services. It also knows a lot about taking the piss – and right now, it’s sure as hell doing that as it seeks to pile on a stinking, stonking 60% hike in bills to its customers.
So, what is a debt-ridden, yet multi-million dividend paying company to do when it needs to mop up the mess from its many years of enormous underinvestment and profiteering? Lobby its good ol’ mates in government of course!
Thames Water: lobbying the new Labour government
In fact, as the Guardian reported on Friday 30 August, that’s exactly what Thames Water has been doing – and to the freshly-elected new Labour government to boot. Specifically, it revealed that:
Advisers and board members of the beleaguered water company are understood to have met Whitehall officials in recent weeks to say that allowing it to be temporarily renationalised would have a “chilling effect” on the entire UK’s appeal to international investors, sources familiar with the discussions told the Guardian.
Of course, Thames Water’s murky argument is not anything new nor surprising. The water industry’s main lobby body Water UK has long pumped out these same scare-mongering pile of shit anti-nationalisation lines.
Now, the corporate media is also lapping up Water UK’s insistence for bill hikes. For instance, ITV News was doing the Thames Water’s dirty PR work just this week, with an article on Wednesday 28 pronouncing how:
Water bosses warn plans to cap bills will reduce industry’s ability to tackle sewage leaks
However, what’s especially galling is Thames Water’s attempt to circumvent regulator Ofwat. The Guardian pointed out here again that:
The call for government to intervene and potentially overrule Ofwat risks bringing into question the watchdog’s independence. The body was created in 1989, when Britain’s water and sewage services were privatised by Margaret Thatcher’s government, in order to set limits on the amounts regional monopolies could charge consumers.
Yet, it’s also no surprise the company is appealing to the new Labour government to intervene either. That’s because the Labour Party is a festering pool of corporate capitalist stooges. Crucially, it’s filled to the brim with a veritable shitshow of water industry lobbyists and ties.
Thames Water tight with the Labour Party
Pre-election, the Canary identified no fewer than a dozen firms that have lobbied for the UK water sector in the last five years with significant connections to the Labour Party.
One just so happens to be former new Labour environment minister Ian Pearson. He currently sits on the board of none other than the mess, the sinking company itself – Thames Water.
Naturally, the links with Thames Water didn’t stop there. Multiple candidate MPs had worked for Lexington Communications. The company had former Thames Water owner and “vampire kangaroo” investment bank Macquarie as a client. We noted that:
While owners of Thames Water, the bank leeched billions in loans and dividends from its subsidiary. When Macquarie sold the company in 2017, Thames Water was over £10bn in debt – and the investment bank itself had saddled it with a significant portion of this.
All three candidates are now MPs.
As well as this, we revealed that:
Teneo, which has listed Severn Trent, United Utilities, and Thames Water among its clients as recently as at least 31 May this year. The company’s senior managing director Patrick Loughran worked closely with New Labour during its time in government. In particular, he operated as a special advisor to Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and Peter Mandelson.
These were just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the Labour right’s multitude of connections with the industry. Given these, it’s no surprise now that Thames Water is mounting its lobbying charm offensive on the government fresh out of the election.
Light-touch Labour and toothless regulators
And by all accounts, it very well might work. So far, Labour has levied a light touch approach to profiteering private water firms.
Government regulator the Environment Agency is “considering” reforms to its flawed star rating system. This has allowed water companies to dump sewage and still rack up a full sweep of stars to their names. However, as the Canary detailed, it’s likely that:
stripping stars will be just a sewage-spilling slap on the wrist with little to no impact.
Of course, besides shooting down Thames Water’s bill hike plans, it’s not as if Ofwat itself has been doing much to clamp down on the parasitic company either. Despite making a song and dance on 6 August about lumping Thames Water with a “record” fine, the Canary’s Steve Topple pointed out that:
it’s unlikely to bother the toxic water company, as the £104m fine is just 66% of its annual profits last year – never mind what it paid to shareholders.
Most significantly though, Starmer has ruled out nationalisation – and did so just days after taking office. Ostensibly, it appears Thames Water’s lobby efforts could be taking effect.
However, it’s goading that Thames Water is attempting to weasel out of this stonking mess of its own making even further. More to the point, it now wants to palm its costs off to the public. It’s the stinking epitome of socialising the risks, privatising the profits. Worst of all, Labour will probably let the putrid private water company get away with it. It’ll maintain the flailing legacy of water privatisation until the profits come home – for the next Labour MP-turned-Thames Water lobbyist.
Featured image via the Canary
