Future of Thames Water

Richard Tice Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. We have heard about Thames Water’s incompetent management of the physical pipes and networks. I want to touch on the mismanagement of its finances: the profit and loss and the balance sheet.

In 2007, Macquarie, a big private equity group, bought the company and loaded it up with so much debt that it could not cope. That is why we have ended up with the debt soaring from £6 billion to some £18 billion over the last 15 years or so, while the regulator was completely asleep at the wheel and allowed that to happen. The previous Conservative Government allowed it to happen.

We now have a situation in which the debt is trading on the markets at somewhere between 5p and 50p in the pound—in other words, the debt is not worth what the original holders provided. In Thames Water’s recent accounts there are four pages on whether or not the company is a going concern. That basically means it is not. It is effectively bust. As a genuine private company, it is not able to meet its financial or regulatory obligations. It is time to say that enough is enough.

In business there is an expression: caveat emptor. The private equity groups, the debt holders and the bond holders knew what they were doing. They were trying to make large private equity returns. That is fine—I believe in free markets—but when they mess it up, they have to pay the price. Now is the time to say to those investors that enough is enough.

The last thing we need is for the group to be bought by a substantial Chinese infrastructure group that is already the single biggest owner of all our utilities in the United Kingdom, and that takes over £1 billion in dividends and interest on shareholder loans every single year. No—now is the time for the Government to show some genuine courage and to say that enough is enough. It is time to buy it back for a pound, make the investment that is required, with competent people to stop the outrageous leaks and mismanagement of the physical assets. We will then have a worthwhile water company we can all be proud of.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dame Angela Eagle]

No, I must make this point, which is quite important in the context of the debate. There is a high bar for the use of special administration regimes. The law states that special administration can be initiated only if the company becomes insolvent—while Thames Water is living fairly hand to mouth, it is not currently insolvent—or is in such a serious breach of its principle statutory duties or an enforcement order that it is inappropriate for the company to retain its licence. Those are the only two things than can lead to the application of a special administration regime.

[Richard Tice]

Thames Water is not able to meet its financial obligations. The debt is trading at 5p in the pound. It says it is going to invest £20 billion in the next five years; it does not have the money. It cannot meet its obligations. While all that is going on, it is not repairing or investing in the pipes. It is bust. It is not meeting its obligations. It does meet those criteria, Minister.

[Dame Angela Eagle]

There is a process going on between the creditors and the company that must be allowed to finish one way or another. I have just said that, should Thames Water become insolvent, we will not hesitate to apply to the court to place the company into a special administration regime. Hon. Members on both sides of this Chamber should be reassured by that. We will continue to work with Ofwat to help support a market-led solution to the company’s issues of financial resilience and operational delivery.