UK Labour Party Seeks Nationalization Of Water Industry - Shadow Chancellor

(@FahadShabbir)

UK Labour Party Seeks Nationalization of Water Industry - Shadow Chancellor

The UK Labour Party will nationalize the country's water industry if it comes to power, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said on Monday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2018) The UK Labour Party will nationalize the country's water industry if it comes to power, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said on Monday.

The water and wastewater services were privatized in England and Wales in 1989.

"Water bills have risen 40% in real terms since privatization. Water companies receive more in tax credits than they pay in tax. Each day enough water to meet the needs of 20 million people is lost due to leakages. With figures like that, we can't afford not to take them back. But let's be clear, nationalization will not be a return to the past," McDonnell said.

The shadow chancellor pointed out that he along with Labour lawmaker Rebecca Long-Bailey were launching a "large scale consultation on democracy in [the UK] public services.

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"There will be unprecedented openness and transparency in how the industry will be managed. We are ending the profiteering in dividends, vast executive salaries, and excessive interest payments. Surpluses will be reinvested in water infrastructure and staff, or used to reduce bills. Real investment will allow the highest environmental standards," McDonnell said.

The UK Labour Party has been in opposition since 2010 when the party headed by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown was defeated by the Conservative Party headed then by David Cameron.