The case for privatising water was serious and made by serious people. It rested on one condition that was never met - and the geometry of what happens when it isn't.
Crossbencher · 16 July 2026
The case for selling the water companies was serious. Serious people made it, and it deserves better than the sneer it gets now. It also rested on one condition. That condition never held - and everything that went wrong flows from that.
Here was the case. In 1989 it was arguably the responsible view. The pipes were Victorian. The state was broke. Public ownership had a habit of starving the network, because the Treasury raids the maintenance budget before it touches anything voters can see. So sell the companies. The money for new pipes would come from private markets, not taxes. Shareholders chasing efficiency would discipline costs as no minister ever had. An independent regulator would set prices on the engineering, not the electoral calendar. And the taxpayer would stop carrying the risk. None of that was stupid. Most of it was plausible.
Members only
Every writer, every column
The last 30 days of the argument are free for everyone, always. The archive beyond that is a Member thing - it is part of what keeps the whole record free.
One email a day: today’s quiz, the Bench question, the argument and what broke - every figure with its source. Free, and it saves your streak. Stop it any time from one link at the bottom of it.