The front-page declaration in the N&S by Carlisle MP Julie Minns, “We won’t tolerate sewage being pumped into our rivers, lakes and seas” isn’t true.

Ofwat only expects the privatised water monopolies to reduce it by 44%, so Labour will “tolerate” 56% of the faecal pollution. Try swimming in that, Julie!

Thatcher handed over our public water supply debt-free and for virtually nothing, justified by the promise that these efficient “entrepreneurs” would invest to improve the supply and reduce our bills.

But after 35 years of privatisation we have not one new reservoir, a quarter of drinking water is lost through leaky old pipes, we lurch from floods to shortages, they deliberately dump raw sewage and kill our waterways – oh, and we pay 40% higher bills. So much for the magic market.

Private finance has a parasitical relationship to us customers and our environment. They have looted £78bn in shareholder dividends from the industry and left it with £60bn of debts.

Now they want us to fork out an additional £88bn for the renewal of the infrastructure which they were supposed to do. Cumbrians’ bills will now rise by £94 (21%) to £536 over another 5 years, and we can’t refuse.

The owners of Thames Water have plundered it so much that it is on the verge of collapse. Despite a 21% increase in profits, shareholders recently refused an emergency £500m investment, but instead extracted another £150m in dividends. Now there is talk of a temporary renationalisation to sort out the mess at taxpayers’ and customers’ expense, then hand it back to the sharks, as with the banks. No way!

The Socialist Party campaigns to renationalise water and all utilities, but this time under the democratic control of elected representatives of the workers and customers. And not a penny of compensation should be paid to the financial institutions which have plundered them for private profit (except small shareholders in need). In fact, we should demand the return of the £78bn.

So why does Labour fob us off with toothless regulators instead of taking utilities back into public ownership? 82% of voters agree with water nationalisation, but Labour stands for the 8% who oppose it. They serve the interests of big business and the millionaires who now fund the party. That’s why the working class needs its own party.

Robert Charlesworth

Carlisle Socialist Party