Windrush WASP

We have to campaign for what the environment and people need, not what our government and the polluters have said they might let us have - if we play nicely and let them keep milking our bills. Channel 4's #DirtyBusiness has put us in front of the goal. Let's not waste that. We don't need 'campaign victories', we need an end to the privatisation scam. Real fish WERE killed by Thames Water pre the making of this video. Thousands of them

@Norther07893550 Check our blogs. Join the fight

@WindrushWasp Yes, I feel so frustrated!

It does not have to be like this. Time to stop behaving like helpless victims of corporate greed. These are our waters, not the water companies'. And together we have the power, not just to make it a bit better, but to make it stop.

@eeyoresmother Check out windrushwasp.org blog

@WindrushWasp How can people make it stop? There have been protests, but to absolutely no avail.

"River campaigners on the march over the Severn." I think this year is going to be the summer of protests. You know what, let's make it the summer of protests. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

"London is opening a Thames bathing spot… full of toxic chemicals." You have been warned. inews.co.uk/news/london-op…

I've always found this incredible useful. An easy guide to exactly how much sh*t your local water company is in. Southern Water customer, 27% of your bill it doing nothing but paying interest on their stinking pile of debt. Thames Water, 28%, Anglian Water, 24% and on, and on, and on.......... weownit.org.uk/get-involved/p…

Excellent speech from @ZackPolanski, time to bring water into public ownership 👏👏👏 We don't have to destroy nature for shareholder returns We don't have to rack up bills while a handful of people profit Every penny could be reinvested back into the system

Our NHS, our water, our energy, our mail, and our transport shouldn't be left in the hands of companies who put profit before people. Agree? Join us: vist.ly/4vnsz

With our government overtly on the side of the privatised water scam, people are starting to find their own ways to protect their country. Unprotected by the authorities, who can blame them?

Staggering After almost 40 years of water privatisation 40 years of £Billions in profits being extracted by shareholders and CEOs 40 years of our water infrastructure being starved of investment 40 years of sewage being dumped illegally in our rivers and seas and our natural world being wrecked by corporate Greed. The Labour Government is still defending the privatised model.

People in Margate are standing up against Southern Water. ❌They’ve taken out £2.3 billion in dividends ❌Loaded the company with over £5 billion in debt ❌Dumped over 300,000 hours of sewage in 2024 Now they are prosecuting @juliewassmer for refusing to pay. Shame on @SouthernWater.

Absolutely outrageous that this government hasn't already stepped in to TAKE BACK THAMES WATER In a new proposal this week, the creditors want to *set their own rules on sewage* 💩 I've written to the government and Ofwat asking them to say NO 👇 weownit.org.uk/news/open-lett…

Through all of his 8 years running the Environment Agency Sir James Bevan was never actually employed by the EA, he was always on 'secondment' from the Foreign Office so that he could remain a member of the civil service pension scheme. Does that mean he got to keep his final salary pension bearing in mind that when he stepped down from the EA he was making £200,000 a year? Hell of a pension.

I held an event in Parliament with Anna Dixon MP and the Sewage Campaign Network on the Water White Paper, the sewage scandal and Channel 4’s recent docudrama ‘Dirty Business’. Campaigners travelled from across the country to share their experiences and brief MPs on the causes of the water crisis, the Water White Paper and what is needed to secure the future of our water services. Over 100 MPs attended – a massive turnout reflecting the years of hard work by tireless activists to draw attention to this issue. It was a pleasure to see so many colleagues attend and hear the case for a better, people-led, profit-free system. @saveourswale @WindrushWasp @CleanIlkley @MattStaniek @sascampaigns @GMBLondonRegion @c4news @annalouisedixon

You've been sustaining that for decades, the idea that shareholders provide the money up front and customers pay them back over 10, 15, 20, 30 years is a myth. As highlighted in the High Court for years the funding has coming directly out of bill payers pockets. See below. 👇 On one thing we do agree, govt are avoiding taking responsibility; for any of it.

In the more than decade I have had the privilege of serving as your MP for Norwich South, I don’t think I have ever attended a meeting quite as moving as the one we held in Parliament this week. We hosted the people behind Channel 4’s Dirty Business. It tells the true story of campaigners and families who have spent years fighting not just water companies, but a system that was meant to protect us and has too often failed. Many of you will know that since introducing my Private Member’s Bill to bring water back into public ownership, I have been raising these issues in Parliament and beyond. I have heard the evidence. I have read the reports. I have listened to accounts of pollution, regulatory failure, and companies putting profit before the public good. But nothing prepares you for sitting in a room with people who have lived the consequences. The most difficult moment came when we heard from a mother who lost her daughter after exposure to polluted water. Her story is part of the series, but hearing it in person was something else entirely. To hear her voice break as she described the moment she lost her child is something I will not forget. There was no anger in her tone. No performance. Just grief, dignity, and a determination that no other family should go through what she did. At the end of the meeting, she came over to speak to me. She gave me a hug and thanked me for the work we have been doing to bring water back into public ownership. I have to be honest. That meant more to me than almost anything else I have experienced in Parliament. Because in that moment, this stopped being about policy, or process, or politics. It became about something much simpler. What kind of country allows this to happen? And what kind of country decides it will not allow it to happen again? For years, we have been told that this system works. That it just needs tweaking. Better regulation. Stronger oversight. But when a system allows pollution on this scale, when it fails families in this way, when it continues to reward failure with profit, we have to be honest about what we are dealing with. This is not a system that is broken. It is a system doing exactly what it was designed to do. That is why I believe there is no alternative to bringing our water back into public, democratic ownership. Not as an abstract idea. Not as ideology. But because it is the only way to align this essential service with the public interest. The people I met this week are not politicians. They are not lobbyists. They are ordinary members of the public who have given years of their lives to holding power to account. They are the ones who have tested the water, gathered the evidence, fought the legal battles, and refused to be ignored. They are the ones who have carried this issue when others would not. They are, quite simply, the reason this fight continues. And it will continue. Because water is not just another commodity. It is something we all rely on, something we all share, and something that should belong to all of us. So we keep going.

From Zack Polanski's speech today: Privatisation of state assets, the things we used to own, was "a bonfire sale". vist.ly/4vcrd

Thames Water creditors (Private Equity) offer £6.55bn in new debt to take formal control. Want exemption from penalties for dumping sewage. One-third of customer bills cover interest and dividend. It will worsen. NOT ACCEPTABLE Must end privatisation. archive.ph/gHCRJ

#SewageCampsignNetwork #DirtyBusiness thank you Steve for meeting with us. A really productive discussion