Something In The Water

From Jon Coates in the Daily Express:

Calls to renationalise the water industry have risen as a summer of drought looms despite heavy rain.

Seven out of 10 voters want the control of water supplies taken out of the hands of major companies, many foreign-owned, and put back into public ownership.

After a month of constant rainfall and even flooding failed to lift drought restrictions in many areas, there are strong signs the public is increasingly frustrated with the performance of private companies and the Government at tackling the water crisis. 

Only last week Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman gave a warning that household supplies could be cut and families left to queue at ­standpipes next year if the drought conditions continued.

She said: “Whereas it’s most unlikely we’d have standpipes this year, if we have another dry winter that becomes more likely.”

In what will come as a surprise to the Government, an exclusive poll for the Sunday Express revealed an astonishing 71 per cent of the British public wants the water industry renationalised.

After the wettest April since records started in 1910 and as another wet Bank Holiday brought more ­deluges, Gary Smith, national secretary of the GMB union, said: “Water is a natural resource which is plentiful in this country and should not be in private ownership.”

Union bosses are demanding a government inquiry after accusing the suppliers, mainly owned by Australian banks, of letting shortages reach crisis point by failing to collect and store enough rainwater. 

Our poll of more than 2,000 people across Britain, conducted by Angus Reid, found support for renationalisation of water highest among the over-55s, with 76 per cent wanting to go back to the system they grew up with. They were supported by 72 per cent of 35 to 54-year-olds.

Australian and Chinese-owned Thames Water tops the table of worst offenders for water leakages. Its 25.7 per cent leak rate, 665 million litres of water a day, could fill Wembley ­Stadium every 36 hours.

Southern Water, South East Water, Anglian Water, Sutton and East ­Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East, which also imposed hosepipe bans on April 5, have leakage rates of 17.7 per cent. Anglian Water has announced there could be standpipes in the streets next ­summer if we have a third dry winter in a row.

The GMB has called for industry regulator Ofwat and the water companies to be brought to account.

It says Thames Water, which has paid out £5billion in dividends since 1990, must answer for closing 25 bulk water storage facilities in the South East before implementing plans to divert water from the Severn to meet rising demand.

Facilities closed include four ­reservoirs at Barn Elms Water Works in Barnes, south-west London, ­Cheshunt Reservoir South in Hertfordshire, Stoke Newington East and West reservoirs in east London, and seven reservoirs at Molesey in ­Surrey.

Mr Smith said: “It cannot be repeated often enough that there is no shortage of water in Britain. We use less than one per cent of total UK rainfall and less than 10 per cent in the South East. 

“We have a regulator and water companies that have allowed a situation to develop which is effectively rationing of water.”

A Defra spokesman said: “Since privatisation over £90billion pounds has been invested in the water industry to improve resilience and reduce pollution. Renationalisation would be a backward step and is not a solution to the problems we face.” 

Water in England and Wales was privatised by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1989 to provide the increased investment in infra­structure needed to meet EU ­drinking water standards. Scotland and Northern Ireland have kept their water under state control.

There is also anger that families in England and Wales pay more than most of their European counterparts for water. The average combined water and sewerage bill of £356 a year is projected to rise by 14 per cent by 2030.

To Simon Heffer (yes, Simon Heffer) in the Daily Mail:

As the Prime Minister makes hasty changes to the measures which will be introduced in this week’s Queen’s Speech, Mail columnist  Simon Heffer reveals the 15 Bills he would bring in if he were in Mr Cameron’s shoes.

National Grid (Water) Bill

The absurdity of one half of the country having hosepipe bans while the other is awash has to end. Pipelines from North Wales, the North West and Scotland to the drier and more populous South and East would ensure that the surpluses could be put to good use. This could be funded by a levy on water bills and would have a significant impact on unemployment.

Energy Bill

This would kick-start an immediate programme of building nuclear power facilities and order the removal of both on- and off-shore wind farms. To maximise environmental friendliness, a programme could be designed for recycling the redundant wind turbines.

Transport Bill

The £32billion HS2 link from London to Birmingham would be cancelled, and the money spent instead on upgrading existing railways and by-passes. It would also introduce tolls for non UK-registered commercial vehicles, such as British hauliers are subject to abroad, to provide a contribution to the road network.

Education Bill

This would permit state secondary schools to select on whatever criteria they felt fit, including academic, to improve the life chances of millions of children and help them aspire to the best universities and careers. It would allow specialisation of schools into those pursuing predominantly academic subjects and those pursuing vocational ones: the latter would be linked to a recognised national apprenticeship scheme.

Care of the Elderly Bill

Providing adequate residential care for the ageing population is perhaps the ultimate ticking time-bomb, and something must be done urgently to secure the dignity of old and infirm people. This Bill would build on the suggestion by the last Labour government that people should buy annuities on their retirement to fund their care if they live to a great age. The Bill should set out a means of doing this, whether by a lump sum, deferred pension entitlements or long-term savings.

Drugs (Enforcement) Bill

With police estimating that more than 70 per cent of crime is drug-related, the enforcement of drugs law is failing. This Bill would improve law and order by reducing the discretion of police forces not to prosecute for possession and by increasing penalties for all forms of trafficking and supplying. A national drugs enforcement squad would be sent to intervene in under-performing forces to improve their hit rates. 

Derelict Land Bill

To prevent the concreting over of the Green Belt, local authorities should be empowered to levy a tax on the owners of industrial land lying derelict in designated development areas. The rate of tax would increase annually until the land was sold or developed.

Local Government Bill

This should empower an annual independent audit of all local government jobs and services, using a statutory template of what services ought to be provided and how many staff per 1,000 of the population are required to do it. Since around 86 per cent of local government funding is centrally provided, it is time for the centre to get it under control and curb unnecessary spending.

European Communities (Referendum) Bill

The constant arguments over whether or not Britain should be in the EU are sapping the country’s political energy. It is time to lance the boil. This Bill would enable a binding referendum to be held on our continued membership. We could then plan for a definite future either in, or out, of the EU.

Immigration Bill

Entry to the United Kingdom would be capped, and open only to individuals (and their immediate families) with qualifications required by the country. Illegal immigrants would be subject to immediate deportation unless asylum is granted. And so long as Britain is a member of the EU, the right of automatic entry to all EU citizens would be rescinded.

Human Rights Bill

This would repatriate all human rights cases to our courts, and give our Supreme Court the final jurisdiction over whether human rights have been breached. Parliament, not foreign judges, would become the ultimate arbiter of what constituted a breach of human rights.

Civil Service (Reform) Bill

This would prevent anyone who has been a member of any political party, or engaged in any partisan political activity, in the preceding ten years from being employed in any rank in the civil service. It would also require senior civil servants whose salaries exceed those of cabinet ministers to reapply for their posts and be vetted by an independent appointments board.

House of Lords  (Limitation) Bill

Instead of clogging up Parliament for a year on an impossible programme of Lords reform, this Bill would be simple. The size of the House of Lords would be set at 450 members, excluding those who have applied for leave of absence. Until enough present peers have died to reach that number, no more peerages conferring the right to sit in the Lords would be created. The Lords would become manageable and less expensive, and prime ministers would need to think carefully before awarding peerages as they would become so scarce.

Fixed-Term Parliaments (Repeal) Bill

One of the main problems Britain will have over the next three years is that the Prime Minister of a Coalition that is manifestly a spent force cannot ask the Queen to dissolve parliament and call a general election. Last year’s Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, which made it almost impossible to terminate a parliament before five years, is already leading to lame-duck government and is a massive waste of time and money. It should be repealed.

Finance and Enterprise Bill

There is no economic growth because there is no growth strategy, so this would be aimed at providing both. The finance part of the Bill would cut personal and corporation taxes, reduce VAT to boost consumption and remove prohibitive payroll taxes that deter employers from hiring staff. It would also outline spending cuts, notably in overseas aid, local government and welfare benefits, to fund these lower taxes. The enterprise element would reduce regulations on employment and with them the bureaucracy of human resources and health and safety rules.

PS: Hardly any of these bills I suggest would stand a chance of becoming law because of the resolute opposition of the Liberal Democrats to anything that smells of a Conservative policy. Given the state of the country, and the need for urgent action, that would seem to make the most compelling argument for the Prime Minister to end the Coalition and start being Tory again.

A mixed bag, of course. But Heffer is no fool. He knows perfectly well that the most urgently necessary National Grid for water is absolutely impossible except in terms and by means of public ownership. The same is true of his splendid plan for nuclear power. He is at least open to the importance of railways.

On education, he is in the right area, if not quite yet at the right place. On care for the elderly, enforcement of the drugs laws, and taxation of land value (yes, taxation of land value), he is as Old Labour as can be. He is wrong about local government, which ought not to be anything like so dependent on the centre, entitling it to reassert its historic role.

He is wrong about the EU: we need repatriation, not a referendum. He is in the right area on immigration, and spot on about human rights. The civil service proposal is impractical, but the acceptance of the principle of pay restraint based on relativity within the given organisation is very striking indeed. And he is absolutely right about fixed-term Parliaments.