We Own It

Angela Rayner gives councils green light to sell off allotments Labour's Angela Rayner has approved the sale of eight allotment sites in England since the party came to power, according to a report in the Telegraph. The move has been branded a "kick in the teeth" to Brits

Shocking decision!🤬
This Labour government is now flogging off allotments to plug council budgets.

Here's an idea, why not end austerity, restore local council funding, and actually PROTECT the green spaces that we cherish.

A fair price to the public for water nationalisation | Letter Letter: The government is wrong on the cost of bringing water back into public ownership, write Prof Becky Malby, Dr Kate Bayliss, Prof Frances Cleaver and Prof Ewan McGaughey

Full article here www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, says it’s too expensive to bring water into public ownership. Here’s why he’s wrong 👇🏼

Infographic showing the responses to the question "Do you think the following should be nationalised and run in the public sector, or privatised and run by private companies?" Headline: Public ownership is popular Water - 82% Energy - 71% Buses - 66% NHS - 87% Rail - 76% Royal Mail - 75% Polling by YouGov, June 2024

Just your regular reminder that public ownership is hugely popular in the UK. ✅

Join the fight to take back control of our public services and run them for people not profit. 😀

Sign up to our newsletter. Link in comments 👇

Full article here https://inews.co.uk/opinion/the-cunliffe-report-proves-it-water-must-be-nationalised-3818055

Join us. Let's take back our water https://weownit.org.uk/people-not-profit

The Cunliffe report proves it: water must be nationalised This is the story of privatisation: nationalise the losses, privatise the profits July 21, 2025 6:29 pm Picture of a Thames Water branded van.

Privatisation is ripping YOU off!

On a £500 water bill, £175 of YOUR money is going straight to banks and shareholders. 🤑

That's £175 not being invested in fixing leaks or stopping sewage pollution. 🤬

Time to end this madness. Public ownership is the only solution. Join us 👇

Full article here https://www.politicshome.com/opinion/article/water-steve-reed-swimming-tide-public-opinion

Make Steve come clean on the true cost of nationalising water https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/petition-steve-reed-come-clean-on-the-true-cost-of-publicly-owned-water

THEHOUSE On water, Steve Reed is swimming against the tide of public opinion. Picture of a water pipe. (Alamy)

Clean water is a basic human right. 💧

Our Environment Secretary refuses to bring water back into public ownership, saying it will cost £100bn. 🤔

But that figure was from the privatised water lobby. 🤯

No more dodgy maths, its time to #ComeCleanSteve 👇

Petition. Steve Reed: Come clean on the true cost of publicly owned water | We Own It

Time to #ComeCleanSteve
weownit.org.uk/act-now/peti...

💯 👇🏼

Screenshot of a newspaper article with a photograph of a Thames Water vehicle behind safety barriers, alongside a figure dressed in orange safety overalls. The headline reads "Charity action against minister for failing to act over Thames Water". The sub-heading reads "River Action says failure to publish and put into practice policy on nationalisation of failing water firms is unlawful".

🤞Best of luck to ‪@riveractionuk.bsky.social‬ for challenging Government's failure to act on the Thames Water crisis.
👍Special administration is the first step to getting water working for people not profit.
🏆Public ownership has to be the next step.
vist.ly/3zmku

1/9 Steve Reed and his £100bn: a timeline.
Steve Reed says he won’t nationalise the water industry, because it would cost £100bn.
👀So where does that figure come from?👀
He claims that it comes from his own department.
🚨But it looks like it came from the private water companies.
#ComeCleanSteve

Photo of Environment Secretary Steve Reed speaking to the media at Kingfisher Wharf, London, today, after announcing the abolition of Ofwat. A film crew with interviewer, boom mic and camera, are pictured facing away from the viewer.

🔥The People’s Commission for water has found that Steve Reed's £100bn figure to put water in public hands is ‘serious scaremongering & based on biased evidence’.

❗You can read their open letter to the Environment Minister here.
vist.ly/3zhxh

Scottish water is:
🌟Cleaner - 87% of Scotland’s water environment was assessed by SEPA as having a ‘high’ or ‘good’ classification, up from 82% in 2014. England, on the other hand, recently reported a 60% increase in serious pollution incidents.

Public ownership of water across the UK now!

Scottish water is:
🌟Fairer - Scottish water has invested 35% more per household than English water companies. Billpayers’ money has gone into infrastructure, not shareholders’ pockets.

Photograph of the Glenfinnan Monument at Loch Shiel in the Scottish Highlands, superimposed over the Saltire.

Scottish water is nationalised.
Scottish water is:
🌟Cheaper - on average, Scottish water bills cost £113 less than in England.

Full article here https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/26/water-chiefs-pay-rises-england-wales-ban-bonuses-sewage

Never in the field of essential public services has so much been earned by so few for doing so little. 🤬
#PublicOwnershipNow

Full article here https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/train-tickets-made-cheaper-north-32122613

NEWS Train tickets made cheaper in the North thanks to public ownership One journey from Manchester to Yorkshire now costs nearly £20 less than before

📣Good news klaxon!📣

Public ownership saves YOU money! 💸
#publicownership #greatbritishrailways

Screenshot from Hansard of a statement by Steve Reed, Environment Minister, to a question by Independent MP John McDonnell, on 21st July 2025: "On his earlier point, I am much more interested in the purity of our water than the purity of our ideology. The figure of £100 billion as the cost of buying out the water companies if any Government wanted to nationalise them was provided by officials in my Department with no external influence on them. This country cannot afford it, and we also cannot afford the worsening of sewage in our waterways during the years it would take to unpick the current model of ownership."

Written answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for DEFRA, from 8th August 2024: "The cost of nationalisation was calculated in a report published by the Social Market Foundation titled ‘The cost of nationalising the water industry in England’. The report estimated the costs of nationalising water companies would be £90 billion. This research draws on a range of existing academic studies, as well as publicly available data from Ofwat, the London Stock Exchange and the annual accounts of the water companies. The research can be viewed on the Social Market Foundation’s website www.smf.co.uk."

On the record:
🔊Steve Reed says the figure of £100bn to buy back water came from his team with no outside influence.
🔊Baroness Hayman says it came from a think tank report, published and debunked in 2018.
🤔So...who's telling the truth? Time to #ComeCleanSteve
Sign our petition vist.ly/3z57t

Photo of Steve Reed with text saying "Steve Reed Come Clean on the true cost of publicly owned water. Take Action". Behind is a screenshot of a newspaper headline saying "Public Ownership of England's water companies could cost close to zero, says think tank."

Steve Reed told Parliament his dep't provided the figure of £100bn to buy back water.
The DEFRA Under-Secretary and civil servants are on record saying the figure came from a report funded by water companies.
So...who's telling the truth? Time to #ComeCleanSteve
Sign our petition! vist.ly/3yyng

It costs £0 to make a failed water co. public. Privatised water will cost £22bn in the next 5 years.

We must fulfil Keir Starmer's 2020 pledge to make water public, not be blocked by the Treasury saying there's no money. No more bailouts for shareholders, banks + polluters. @skynewsrss.bsky.social

An image of Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, with two quotes: (1) "the cost of nationalisation was calculated in a report by the Social Market Foundation" funded by Anglian Water, South West Water, United Utilities and Severn Water (Department for Environment, Sept 2024) and (2) "the figure of £100 billion as the cost of buying out the water companies...was provided by officials in my department with no external influence on them" (Steve Reed, Environment Secretary, July 2025). The image includes #ComeCleanSteve

Steve Reed and private water companies are the only ones insisting that nationalising water would cost close to £100 billion.

Are they singing out of the same hymn sheet?

Last year, his department said yes. Now he says he isn't. What's the truth Steve Reed? #ComeCleanSteve👇

Photo of Steve Reed with text saying "Steve Reed Come Clean on the true cost of publicly owned water. Take Action". Behind is a screenshot of a newspaper headline saying "Public Ownership of England's water companies could cost close to zero, says think tank."

9/9 Get Steve Reed to tell us the truth about the cost of publicly owning water.

✍️Sign the petition here: https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/petition-steve-reed-come-clean-on-the-true-cost-of-publicly-owned-water
#ComeCleanSteve

8/9 Reed is claiming that nationalisation is merely ideological.
But surely there is nothing more ideological than refusing to engage with the ✨accurate and unbiased ✨evidence like @ewanmg ‘s which is telling us that nationalisation can be extremely cost effective.
#ComeCleanSteve

7/9 REED’S SUMS ARE NOT ADDING UP.
The only source we’ve seen the government using to justify their £100bn estimation is the water companies’ inflated, inaccurate and self-serving SMF report.
If not there, where is Steve getting his information from?
#ComeCleanSteve

6/9 Earlier, Reed was challenged in the House of Commons by @labourlewis on his failure to consider publicly owned water. He again gave his £100bn figure, saying it was ‘provided by officials in my department under the influence of nobody externally’.
🤔certify & provide...not quite the same things.