Our guiding principle in choosing campaigns is whether they help make a Good Society possible; one where equality, sustainability and democracy are not mere aspirations, but a living reality.

As an organisation, we explore the ideas gap between what our country needs and the existing offer of formal politics.

We strive to close the gap in our campaigns, identifying the catalyst issues that could become the building blocks of a New Settlement.

That starts with the basics, and it doesn’t get much more basic than our need for water. 

We all know our water system was broken when it was privatised. Passing an essential of life that is a natural monopoly into private and profit maximising hands was always going to lead to disaster. Yet there is a solution that unites our desire for an economy that works for everyone, handing genuine power back to communities through democratic reforms, and the need for real sustainability – public ownership.

Join our campaign to bring water back where it belongs – in the hands of the public.

Data from the Environment Agency revealed that raw sewage has been pumped into rivers and seas at least 464,056 times in 2023 making an average of 1,271 times a day – a 54% increase over 2022.

Our water system is a global anomaly, it is privately owned by companies, 70% of which are not based in the UK. Our latest increase in bills was a staggering 40% average increase over the next five years, with some areas facing hikes as high as 84%. That is the largest water bill hike in the history of five year reviews. The companies are riddled with debt, are increasingly “uninvestable“, and customers are now being expected to pay twice for years of financial mismanagement.

Ofwat as a regulator isn’t fit for purpose because it is impossible to regulate a private company in the public interest – it must be owned by the public if it is to serve the public     – and so it is chronically failing to hold companies accountable at every turn. Despite record sewage spills, Ofwat has fined water companies just £2. They have a statutory responsibility to shareholders’ bottom line, not us or our environment.

This is your water, and your bills, this is the sewage you have to deal with but you have no say. The latest historical bill hikes shunt water companies’ financial recklessness and debts onto the shoulders of bill-payers because we have no say and no way of holding them to account.

It’s not enough to change the regulator or introduce guardrails. These companies have monopolies – and have rinsed the public for profit for over 30 years. Enough is enough.

That’s why we’re starting a new campaign for public ownership of water.

We’re bringing people, organisations, and politicians behind a new Water Bill. On the 28th March, this bill will be debated in parliament.

The bill will:

• Set new targets and objectives relating to water, including in relation to the ownership of water companies and to climate mitigation and adaptation
• Place requirements on the Secretary of State to publish and implement a strategy for achieving those targets and objectives
• Establish a Commission on Water to advise the Secretary of State on that strategy
• Require the Commission to set up a Citizens’ Assembly on water ownership

This bill’s primary purpose is economic democracy. It’s about creating an open conversation in Parliament, which involves the public through a Citizens’ Assembly, about how our water is managed.

Water is a critical national resource. As climate chaos becomes more intense, ownership of water will matter more and more. It will be critical. It is something on which all life and ecological health depends. It belongs to all of us. Water access and our water system are set to come under tremendous strain as the result of climate change.

This bill establishes a blueprint for democratic practice: for creating a public conversation about the state of our water and its future management – particularly in respect of the deep climate adaptation required – drawing on all expertise and ideas available to us, and which leaves no rock unturned in examining the root causes of the current failure so mistakes are not repeated. This bill does not presume a particular end point, and aims to push the public debate beyond simplistic and unhelpful narratives of privatisation vs old forms of nationalisation.

This bill puts the conversation about the future management of water where it should be – in the hands of parliament and the public. This is a conversation that must take place in broad daylight, not behind the closed doors of boardrooms, or through opaque industry lobbying. Water belongs to all of us, so how it is managed is a question of economic democracy. This should not be difficult for any government to grasp.

There’s clear public outrage about how our water is being mismanaged. There’s also a clear public consensus that the current system does not work. If the government fails to act, this will further undermine people’s faith in democracy. With the rise of the far right, the failure of democracy is not something we can afford.

We have to stop water mismanagement, and that can only be done through systemic change. The answers do not lie in failed regulators or tinkering. We must have the courage to change the rules and create a new political reality. If this can happen in rail or energy then it can happen in water.

Let this bill be the starting point for a national and democratic conversation about water, and how this integral part of our commons is managed in the 21st century, with all the democratic, climate and ecological challenges that lie ahead.