Ash Smith and Professor Peter Hammond of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution — portrayed by David Thewlis and Jason Watkins in Channel 4’s Dirty Business — have launched a formal government petition calling for a referendum on returning the water industry to public ownership.
The move follows the broadcast of the factual drama, which highlighted regulatory failings, criminal practices by water companies, and the resulting risks to public health.
The petition has received unequivocal backing from campaigner and musician Feargal Sharkey.
Ash Smith said, “I think people are sick of being told they can’t have healthy rivers and seas, just because powerful financiers want to keep making money from our water bills. Our government is listening to them but not to us, so this is how we stop being victims and start fighting back.”
An announcement from the group said, “A referendum is not a radical ask. It is the bare minimum in a democracy when 60 million people have no choice over who controls the water that comes out of their taps.”
Feargal Sharkey commented: “It’s unforgivable how the government is ignoring the evidence and the public, and saying water must stay privatised despite its catastrophic, expensive failure. Privatisation has already diverted over £85 billion of billpayers’ money to shareholders who added nothing but greed and financial engineering to what should be a water industry, not a cash machine. It’s time the public had a say in this, not just the bond markets and financiers currently pulling the government’s strings for their own ends, and that is why I am 100% behind this petition.”
As the campaigners explain: “The Government’s forthcoming Water Bill was shaped by a review process that spent more time consulting financiers and the water industry than the public it is supposed to serve and offers no referendum, no public ownership review and no meaningful say for the people footing the bill. Leading economists and accountants say ownership change can be achieved at as little as zero cost to billpayers, explain the campaigners.”
England needs five billion more litres of water a day by 2050. The countries that have met challenges like this have one thing in common, in that the public had a genuine say. In England, they have had none, also presenting a looming national water security risk.
Supporters say the issue ultimately comes down to decisions based on evidence, not influence. The campaigners say a referendum would provide a clear democratic mandate on one of the most fundamental questions facing the country: whether the water industry should remain in private hands or be in modern, public ownership.
You can sign the petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/762640
