The Green Party would nationalise Thames Water and South East Water without paying compensation to shareholders or creditors, the party's deputy leader has said, setting out a position that would mark one of the most radical interventions in the English water industry in decades.
Rachel Millward told the party's conference in Brighton that the two companies are insolvent and that the public purse should not be used to bail out investors. «Forget compensation for shareholders and creditors, these are insolvent companies,» she said, according to remarks delivered at the gathering.
The proposal would bring two of the most financially troubled water utilities in England back into public ownership. Thames Water, which serves around a quarter of the UK population, has been at the centre of a prolonged financial crisis, while South East Water has also faced significant funding pressures. Both have been the subject of intense scrutiny over their financial structures, environmental performance and levels of debt.
Millward's intervention places water nationalisation firmly at the centre of the Green Party's offer to voters. The party has argued that the current ownership model has failed to deliver adequate investment in infrastructure, with repeated discharges of untreated sewage into rivers and coastal waters becoming a major political issue across the country.
The conference also heard a call for action on racial violence and intimidation. Zack Polanski said Britain is a multiracial, multicultural democracy that needs to protect «everyone's equal right to belong.» He warned that the country is facing unprecedented levels of racist violence and intimidation and argued that leadership is required in response.
Polanski called on Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to recognise the situation as a national emergency. He said the issue is not simply a policing problem but a test of whether a diverse democracy can protect the equal right of everyone to belong. His remarks reflect a broader argument within the party that multiculturalism should be treated as a source of national strength rather than a point of division.
He added that people are turning to the Green Party because they see it offering a real alternative, and that voters are looking for a different kind of politics that recognises how multicultural the UK has become. Britain is becoming more diverse, not less, he said, asking whether the country can build a society confident enough to live with difference and to make diversity work for everyone.
The conference remarks come as the Greens seek to position themselves as a distinctive force in British politics, willing to take positions on ownership and public services that go further than those of the larger parties. The nationalisation pledge on water is likely to intensify debate over the future of an industry that has been privatised since 1989 and has faced mounting criticism over debt, dividends and environmental failures.
For the water companies concerned, the prospect of nationalisation without compensation would represent a severe outcome for investors. Thames Water's creditors and shareholders have already been engaged in complex negotiations over the company's future, and any political commitment to wipe out their claims would add significant uncertainty to those discussions.
The Green Party's stance also raises questions about the cost and mechanics of bringing large utility networks into public ownership. Supporters argue that public ownership would allow investment to be directed towards infrastructure and environmental improvements rather than shareholder returns, while critics contend that the approach would deter investment and require substantial public borrowing.
With the party conference serving as a platform to set out its priorities, the deputy leader's comments signal that water reform will be a central campaign theme. The party is seeking to appeal to voters frustrated by the performance of privatised utilities and by what it describes as a failure of successive governments to hold them to account.
The intervention on racial violence adds a further dimension to the conference's political message, linking questions of democratic belonging to the party's wider critique of the current political settlement. By framing the issue as a national emergency, Polanski is pressing for a more assertive response from figures across the political spectrum, including regional mayors with significant public platforms.
Together, the two interventions illustrate how the Greens intend to combine economic radicalism with a strong emphasis on social inclusion. Whether that combination translates into electoral support will depend on how far voters accept the argument that the existing ownership and political models have failed.