Wow! Something big happened.
About a week ago we were in parliament for the Westminster Hall debate by MPs on our petition to call for a referendum to bring water into public ownership.
This was new territory for us and we knew from looking at video recordings of previous debates that if a petition got this room more than quarter full, it had done well.
On 14h September 2026 Seventy MPs attended the water referendum debate, sixty-five spoke for the constituencies and there was standing room only as you can see.
The Public gallery was packed throughout and people took turns to try to make sure that everyone who came had the chance to see some of it live, although a bigger group watched on screens and online.
The outstanding attendance alone, sent a message to the government and then Paul Davies MP for the Colne Valley led the debate with a detailed critique of the privatisation scandal and with that he opened the floodgates for a long list of MPs to put their individual constituency marks on it.
Most of what followed was evidence in support of the key theme - privatisation of water has failed and we need change.
Here is the recording.
Here is the transcript of all of the speakers.
Here is a list of the MPs who spoke.
So far, 212, 855 people have signed the petition and many of you responded to calls from WASP and other campaigners, and you wrote to your MPs and asked them to attend. It was clear that water company failure was a big deal all over the country and by getting them there, you played a big part in the impact of that debate. The Sewage Campaign network and its groups and others, like We Own It, and the Welsh Rivers Union, around England and Wales worked really hard on making sure MPs knew the facts, not the fiction.
We will do a detailed thankyou to everyone who helped when the petition finishes on 1st October. In the meantime, the numbers keep going up and please help them grow by getting many friends to sign.
Yesterday, we sent our message to the government via the Water Minister, Emma Hardy who was present throughout the debate and gave a verbal response that you can read in the transcript. Gone was the nonsense rebuttal that government had provided when we passed 10K signatures to be replaced with the acceptance that the system is not working and that we need radical reform and the government will 'look at all possible solutions' - that represents massive progress from its previous 'computer says no' attitude. Critically the Minister said these words - read her full speech on the transcript link.
“The Prime Minister has been clear that the Government’s priorities must be the public’s priorities"
You can read our letter below if you have time and you will get to the key question that we want our government to answer right now:
"Does the government accept that the petition, the debate, and opinion polls show that an end to water privatisation is one of the public’s priorities and that it should therefore be adopted by the government?"
The debate was a landmark event that far exceeded our expectations, but we still have a long way to go and what the NGO world and our MPs, and you, as groups and individuals do next, will shape what happens to our water industry -and that means our streams, rivers, lakes and seas, our health, our wildlife, our bank accounts, our country, and our future.
MP Paul Davies ended on these words and so will we.
We need to look at history and the decisions of past Governments. We do not remember small-scale reforms or tinkering with a broken system. We remember those who had the courage to rewire the state and deliver lasting change.
This Government now face that moment. They must choose whether to preserve a failed model or to deliver a system that is stronger and more accountable. The choice is clear: it is time to put water back into public ownership.
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