<\/p>\n
\n The Prime Minister also said on Friday the model of having privately owned water firms was \u201ca very poor system\u201d, and promised to \u201clay out a programme for reform\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n He hinted water sector reforms would be high up on his agenda during this year\u2019s Labour Party conference in Liverpool, which begins at the weekend.\n<\/p>\n
\n Thames Water, which supplies water and looks after the sewerage system throughout London and parts of southern England, has a debt mountain of around \u00a320 billion and previously warned it only has enough money until the year end.\n<\/p>\n
\n Asked whether the government would step in and take the firm into a special administration regime, the Prime Minister told BBC South: \u201cObviously, we are looking at all of the options\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s challenging because the effect of privatisation was that it locked in a very poor system.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Burnham added: \u201cYou can see that in so many ways with the leaks that people face \u2013 the sewage in our rivers and in our seas, but now the bills that people are paying.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s a system where the shareholders never lose and the public never win \u2013 and that\u2019s got to change.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Burnham did not say what the water sector should look like, but added: \u201cAs we go into the Labour conference, we will set out more thinking about the change that we need to see in the running of water across the country.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Prime Minister has previously told the House of Commons his administration would \u201cfind it very difficult to reverse\u201d the privatisation of water companies which took place almost 40 years ago \u2013 in 1989.\n<\/p>\n
\n During Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s premiership, which came to an end earlier this year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimated that nationalising the water industry would cost around \u00a3100 billion.\n<\/p>\n
\n But Thames Water is facing a \u201cdoom loop\u201d, according to MPs on the Commons\u2019 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.\n<\/p>\n
\n The panel last week warned \u00a310 billion takeover plans by a consortium of more than 100 creditors in the company do not have \u201cthe interests of the public, the company or the environment at heart\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n Creditors \u2013 who collectively own about \u00a317 billion of Thames Water\u2019s \u00a320 billion debt \u2013 have already been sent back to the drawing board after former environment secretary Emma Reynolds warned in June she did not believe their plan went far enough to protect customers or the environment.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Burnham also faced questions about South West Water, which charity Friends of the Earth this year named \u201ctop of the flops\u201d for having the highest total duration of pollution events since 2024, averaging annually at 574,323 hours.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a pre-conference interview, the Prime Minister told ITV West Country that he was \u201cwell aware of the strength of feeling in the region\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: \u201cIt was a difficult summer for people in relation to water supply.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Burnham also said: \u201cWhat we need to do is start to lay out a programme for reform \u2013 and we will.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd we can expect to hear an answer to that (at the) conference.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
#Thames #Water #rescue #deal #options #table #Burnham<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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