107 MPs, including 42 Labour MPs, have signed an open letter to Ofwat and the environment secretary, calling on them to reject the latest deal put forward by Thames Water’s creditors, and bring the private water company into Special Administration.
This comes as environment secretary Emma Reynolds has written to Ofwat to object to the Thames Water creditors’ proposal deal to take over the utility.
Thames Water is on the brink of financial collapse. Thames Water’s creditors have been negotiating with Ofwat to determine the future of the utility since June 2025.
As part of the proposed deal, the creditors want to waive fines until 2030. Pollution, leakage and other performance targets would be suspended or ‘significantly modified’. The creditors also want to raise bills for households beyond the level currently set by Ofwat.
The open letter expresses a concern that allowing Thames Water to set its own rules would create a dangerous precedent for all of England’s privatised water companies. The company caused almost a third of the water sector’s most harmful pollution incidents in 2025.
The letter argues that by taking Thames Water into Special Administration, this government can secure a better deal for the public purse by writing off a greater proportion of the utility’s debt.
We Own It co-ordinated the open letter, which has gained signatures from MPs across political parties, including:
- Jack Rankin, Conservative MP for Windsor.
- Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent West.
- Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale.
- Hannah Spencer, Green MP for Gorton and Denton.
It also comes as potential Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham states that public ownership is “what should be done” for Thames Water.
Sophie Conquest, lead campaigner at We Own It, said:
The average water bill in England is now £639. During a cost of living crisis, households have no choice but to pay more and more for a broken service and sewage-filled rivers.
Yet Thames Water wants to be rewarded for its abysmal failure with a regulatory holiday. And they want us to foot the bill.
The government is absolutely right to block this deal. Members of the public, who pay for and depend upon our water system, and the MPs who represent them are clearly opposed to a deal which puts the interests of US hedge funds ahead of billpayers and our environment.
By taking Thames Water into Special Administration, we can slash the debts and give billpayers and the environment a fair deal.
From there, this government must place Thames Water into permanent public ownership.
Special administration of Thames Water must be the beginning of the end of our water system being used as an ATM for faraway shareholders. Under public ownership, we can put billpayers and the environment first.
Featured image via the Canary
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