Privatised water firms acting “like a criminal racket”, Apsana Begum MP claims

The Labour MP Apsana Begum has issued a blistering critique of water privatisation, accusing the industry of acting ‘like a criminal racket’. She made these comments at a fringe meeting at this year’s TUC Congress in Brighton.

Begum spoke at a meeting titled ‘For an Irreversible Shift in the Balance of Power and Wealth’ hosted by Arise and the General Federation of Trade Unions.

Speaking about prime minister Andy Burnham’s stated intention to reverse 40 years of neoliberalism, Begum told the meeting: “What is said against neoliberalism will be rendered meaningless, in my opinion, completely meaningless if our government is not willing to end the disastrous experiments with privatisation that have robbed our country and our people of hundreds of billions of pounds.”

Begum then went on to specifically discuss the water sector. She told the meeting: “In water, firms are operating like a criminal racket – discharging thousands of hours of raw sewage into waterways [and] hiking bills every year, with almost £100 billion in dividends since privatisation.”

Later, Begum criticised the Labour government for having not yet ended water privatisation. She told the meeting: “The public are completely incensed about it, I’m sure we can all agree. But I cannot accept the government backing away from even the idea of using special administration measures, even for Thames Water.”

She later added: “I think we should be having a conversation about taking all water firms into public ownership.”

In her concluding remarks, Begum told the meeting: “We have to keep demanding an economy that works in the interests of workers and the wider public. I think public ownership has to be at its heart.”

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward