Local MP calls for government to nationalise Thames Water

Southgate and Wood Green MP Bambos Charalambous wants the Labour government to take control of the struggling utility firm

A Thames Water van and (inset) Bambos Charalambous MP

A local Labour MP has called for the government to begin the process of renationalising Thames Water.

Southgate and Wood Green MP Bambos Charalambous says the privately-owned utility company’s recent record is “particularly concerning” and that he wants Thames Water to be “brought into stronger public ownership, either permanently or initially through a special administration”.

His comments were made in a letter sent this week to Environment Secretary Angela Eagle.

It as yet another burst water main is causing severe disruption to water supplies in Enfield, with a leak in World’s End again affecting people across a wide area for several days and leaving Chase Farm Hospital to rely on mobile water tankers to keep the taps running – for the second time in as many weeks.

In its latest update on the Enfield Road leak today (Friday 4th), Thames Water admitted it was “complex” and that it was still struggling to find the “exact location” of the problem.

Last month, Chase Farm Hospital was forced to cancel routine operations during a water leak crisis which lasted five days and affected thousands of people.

After that fiasco, Enfield North MP Feryal Clark slammed Thames Water for its “appalling” handling of the crisis and said it “raises much wider questions about the state of our water industry and its infrastructure”. She intends to speak at an upcoming debate on the water industry in the House of Commons on Monday, 14th September.

But Charalambous has gone further and now says the time has come for the government to bring Thames Water into public ownership.

His letter continues: “There is a strong concern that the current model has failed customers and taxpayers. Water companies operate in regional monopolies, with cutomers having little ability to take their business elsewhere, while successive failures in investment, infrastructure and environmental performance have undermined public confidence.”

In its 2023/24 annual report Thames Water – owned by a consortium including a Chinese sovereign wealth fund and a Canadian pension fund – confirmed it loses an average of around 570.4 million litres per day through leakages.

The full letter sent by Charalambous can be read here.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has himself previously expressed support for renationalising the water industry.

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