Now, re-nationalise water | Politics with Anoosh Chakelian

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The New Statesman

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🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

Water regulator Ofwat is to be abolished - but Labour should go further.

***

On Monday the results of an independent review of the water industry were published. The results were damning for the regulator, Ofwat, which will be abolished in response to the report.

Megan Kenyon attended the announcement for the New Statesman and joins Anoosh Chakelian and George Eaton on the podcast.

They argue that while provision of water in the UK clearly needs drastic reform, the government needs a more radical plan to address the core issues - including the "radicalising" problem of sewage in Britain's lakes and waterways.

They also discuss the proposed appointment of Tim Allan as Keir Starmer's permanent secretary for communications. Does the PM really need another member of the New Labour team on his staff?

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Transcript

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0:28.0	£1,500. The New Statesman.
0:46.8	Today, water regulator Offwat is to be abolished after a damning review on the state of the UK's water industry was released this morning.
0:51.9	Also, why is Kirstama thinking of employing another ex-new Labour figure?
0:55.8	I'm Anusha Kellyan and this is the New Statesman podcast.
1:07.6	I'm joined by my colleagues Megan Kenyon and George Eaton. Hello. Hello. Thanks for joining me to talk about this. Megan, you were at the statement this morning by the Environment Secretary, Steve Reed. Can you just take us through how he responded to the report's findings?
1:17.0	Yes. So I was down an Imperial Wharf this morning, which is where the speech was taking place. It was quite funny because they'd obviously intended for it to be sort of in a place where
1:28.7	we could see the river, see water, exactly what Steve Reed was talking about. But the blinds
1:33.3	were down, so we couldn't actually see the river.
1:36.7	A symbol of modern Britain, if there was one.
1:39.9	But Steve Reed used his speech. It was his first response. He'll be giving another one today in the House of Commons to the Cunliff Review into water in the UK. I think he was sort of setting out Labour's plans. You know, one of the ones that was trailed previously was abolishing off what he confirmed that. And it's all part of Labour's plan to cut
2:03.0	sewage pollution by 50% in the next five years. So he was sort of really setting out this clear
2:09.1	revolutionary idea, well, according to him. You know, we're different from the Conservatives.
2:14.9	We're going to stop the UK from being the exact phrase he used was the dirty man of Europe.
2:22.7	We're going to help with the cost of living, you know, by reducing people's bills, people's water bills.
2:29.5	And yeah, it was a very sort of, he seemed very enthusiastic.
2:33.3	But yeah, the questions afterwards, I think more detail came out.
2:36.8	Okay, we'll go on to them.
	...

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