Water nationalisation ‘no panacea’
13 July 2023
SUGGESTED
Economics
13 July 2023
In the Media
Economic Theory
25 June 2024
Matthew Lesh writes in City AM
IEA’s Director of Public Policy and Communications, Matthew Lesh, has written in City AM discussing the pitfalls of renationalising England’s water infrastructure.
Matthew wrote:
“Even if we want to punish water firm bosses for letting sewage and faeces end up in our oceans, nationalisation will only give us higher bills.
“But a state takeover is far from a panacea. It would not only be extremely expensive – either costing up to £90bn or requiring expropriating assets and turning the UK into a banana republic – while doing little to fix the underlying challenges.
“The French model may be hard to replicate – as it depends on competent state oversight, which seems to be lacking in the UK government. Nevertheless, the idea of a “back to the future” return of state control is only likely to result in higher bills and a dirtier environment.”
You can read the full article here.
Matthew wrote:
“Even if we want to punish water firm bosses for letting sewage and faeces end up in our oceans, nationalisation will only give us higher bills.
“But a state takeover is far from a panacea. It would not only be extremely expensive – either costing up to £90bn or requiring expropriating assets and turning the UK into a banana republic – while doing little to fix the underlying challenges.
“The French model may be hard to replicate – as it depends on competent state oversight, which seems to be lacking in the UK government. Nevertheless, the idea of a “back to the future” return of state control is only likely to result in higher bills and a dirtier environment.”
You can read the full article here.
SHARE
