The water torture goes on at Thames. Sector-wide reform isn’t moving much faster | Nils Pratley
Source: The Guardian ·
If ‘public control’ bit is delaying overhaul, that needs to be nailed down sharpish or continued uncertainty could be costlyIt is strange now to recall that Thames Water had a prominent slot on what was known as “Sue’s shit list” – the internal Labour dossier, compiled by Keir Starmer’s first chief of staff, Sue Gray, of potential crises that could erupt at short notice and force the incoming…
From the source
It is strange now to recall that Thames Water had a prominent slot on what was known as “Sue’s shit list” – the internal Labour dossier, compiled by Keir Starmer’s first chief of staff, Sue Gray, of potential crises that could erupt at short notice and force the incoming administration to make some big decisions quickly. That was July 2024. Here we are – more than two years later – and the Thames script has barely advanced. We’re still waiting to see if the financial crisis at the over-indebted, under-performing water company will be resolved by a creditor-led recapitalisation, special administration or something else. Now Thames is seeking another £2.4bn slug of funding from creditors to stay afloat for another year and survive yet more back and forth between ministers, regulators and those same lenders. The new mystery element in the talks is what the prime minister, Andy Burnham, actually means by “greater public control”. Still, Thames was an outlier – albeit a biggie – one might…