THEHOUSE On water, Steve Reed is swimming against the tide of public opinion. Picture of a water pipe. (Alamy)
Clean water is a basic human right. 💧
Our Environment Secretary refuses to bring water back into public ownership, saying it will cost £100bn. 🤔
But that figure was from the privatised water lobby. 🤯
No more dodgy maths, its time to #ComeCleanSteve 👇
the DEFRA Under-Secretary, and civil servants, are on record saying the figure came from a think tank report, funded by the water companies, and debunked 6 years ago.
🤔So...who's telling the truth? Time to #ComeCleanSteve
Sign our petition! vist.ly/3yugt
Screenshot from Hansard of a statement by Steve Reed, Environment Minister, to a question by Independent MP John McDonnell, on 21st July 2025: "On his earlier point, I am much more interested in the purity of our water than the purity of our ideology. The figure of £100 billion as the cost of buying out the water companies if any Government wanted to nationalise them was provided by officials in my Department with no external influence on them. This country cannot afford it, and we also cannot afford the worsening of sewage in our waterways during the years it would take to unpick the current model of ownership."
Written answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for DEFRA, from 8th August 2024: "The cost of nationalisation was calculated in a report published by the Social Market Foundation titled ‘The cost of nationalising the water industry in England’. The report estimated the costs of nationalising water companies would be £90 billion. This research draws on a range of existing academic studies, as well as publicly available data from Ofwat, the London Stock Exchange and the annual accounts of the water companies. The research can be viewed on the Social Market Foundation’s website www.smf.co.uk."
On the record:
🔊Steve Reed says the figure of £100bn to buy back water came from his team with no outside influence.
🔊Baroness Hayman says it came from a think tank report, published and debunked in 2018.
🤔So...who's telling the truth? Time to #ComeCleanSteve
Sign our petition vist.ly/3z57t
Steve Reed: Come clean on the true cost of publicly owned water weownit.org.uk/act-now/petition-steve-r... 📝 #Petition #UKPol #UKPolitics #ComeCleanSteve #Privitisation
Photo of Steve Reed with text saying "Steve Reed Come Clean on the true cost of publicly owned water. Take Action". Behind is a screenshot of a newspaper headline saying "Public Ownership of England's water companies could cost close to zero, says think tank."
Steve Reed told Parliament his dep't provided the figure of £100bn to buy back water.
The DEFRA Under-Secretary and civil servants are on record saying the figure came from a report funded by water companies.
So...who's telling the truth? Time to #ComeCleanSteve
Sign our petition! vist.ly/3yyng
Steve Reed and his £100bn: a timeline.
Steve Reed says he won’t nationalise the water industry, because it would cost £100bn.
👀So where does that figure come from?👀
He claims that it comes from his own department.
🚨But it looks like it came from the private water companies.
#ComeCleanSteve
#Labour MP fudging the figures, say it ain't so 🙄
They could easily nationalise all water companies, they're choosing not to, they're choosing to allow the continuation of gross profiteering!
Sign the petition at the end of this 👇🧵 to ask Steve Reed to come clean on the real cost.
#ComeCleanSteve
Photo of Steve Reed with text saying "Steve Reed Come Clean on the true cost of publicly owned water. Take Action". Behind is a screenshot of a newspaper headline saying "Public Ownership of England's water companies could cost close to zero, says think tank."
9/9 Get Steve Reed to tell us the truth about the cost of publicly owning water.
✍️Sign the petition here: weownit.org.uk/act-now/petition-steve-r...
#ComeCleanSteve
8/9 Reed is claiming that nationalisation is merely ideological.
But surely there is nothing more ideological than refusing to engage with the ✨accurate and unbiased ✨evidence like @ewanmg ‘s which is telling us that nationalisation can be extremely cost effective.
#ComeCleanSteve
7/9 REED’S SUMS ARE NOT ADDING UP.
The only source we’ve seen the government using to justify their £100bn estimation is the water companies’ inflated, inaccurate and self-serving SMF report.
If not there, where is Steve getting his information from?
#ComeCleanSteve
1/9 Steve Reed and his £100bn: a timeline.
Steve Reed says he won’t nationalise the water industry, because it would cost £100bn.
👀So where does that figure come from?👀
He claims that it comes from his own department.
🚨But it looks like it came from the private water companies.
#ComeCleanSteve
Steve Reed reckons bringing water back into public ownership will cost £100bn. But that figure comes from the private water lobby. It's time to #ComeCleanSteve
weownit.org.uk/act-now/peti...
@weownit.org.uk
