Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the (a) financial and (b) non-financial costs to the public between the privatised model and public ownership of the water industry over (i) the rest of PR24 and (ii) over the following 30 years.

The reality is it would take years to unpick the current ownership model, it would be extremely complex, and we would be in the courts for years.

Billions of pounds of private investment going in to fixing broken pipes would be slashed in the meantime.

Nationalisation would a black hole in the public finances, this money would be better spent on our hospitals and schools.

Nationalisation is not the answer – tougher regulation is – which is why we’re giving the regulators more teeth through things like these swift automatic penalties.

In the Water White Paper, we are clear that where a water company might want to transition to a new ownership model, such as a not-for-profit, the new regulator will assess whether this should go ahead and ensure customer interests are properly reflected in the decision.