Less than a week in to his government and Keir Starmer is already facing an ideological battle within the Labour party – over the nationalisation, or non-nationalisation, of the water industry. News that Thames Water has been put in special measures at the same time that Ofwat has given permission for other water companies to increase bills by an average of £94 over the next five years is going to rekindle the beliefs of many in his party that public utilities do not belong in the private sector.
Starmer is not helped by the fact that when he won the Labour leadership in 2020 it was on the promise of renationalising water and energy companies. His leadership has looked as if it was bought on a false prospectus ever since he changed his mind on the matter in 2022. His excuse, repeated many times since, was that he didn’t think that buying out private shareholders was the best use of public money when there are so many other demands on the public purse.
Get on with the job and you can carry on making profits.
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