Liberal Democrat MPs say it’s time to “pull the plug” on Thames Water following damning committee hearing

Liberal Democrat MPs say it’s time to “pull the plug” on Thames Water following damning committee hearing  

Today, a group of Liberal Democrat MPs from across London and the South of England have called for the Government to place Thames Water under special administration following company bosses being grilled by MPs.  

This morning, Chris Weston (CEO), Sir Adrian Montague (Chair) and Steve Buck (CFO) were questioned by MPs at a select committee hearing in parliament. They were grilled about the financial viability of Thames Water and its current restructuring plan, following recent news the company has just taken on an additional £3 billion of debt.  

In February, Liberal Democrat MP for Witney Charlie Maynard urged the High Court to prevent Thames Water from taking on this debt, representing the interests of the company’s 16 million customers.  

Thames Water executives were also questioned about the role they have played in polluting England’s waterways. Data from earlier this year has revealed that Thames Water were responsible for almost 300,000 hours worth of sewage spills in 2024.  

When Liberal Democrat MP for Somerton and member of the Environment committee Sarah Dyke pressed Sir Adrian about the performance of their turnaround plan, he apologised to the committee admitting “we know are letting customers down”. 

Liberal Democrat MPs representing constituencies affected by Thames Water have released the following statement: 

“Today’s hearing has just confirmed that Thames Water is floundering, with no idea about how to actually deliver for their customers. They are living in a parallel universe. 

“Successive governments have all idly stood by as Thames Water has spoiled our waterways with sewage dumping and racked up billions of pounds worth of debt whilst slapping customers with eye-watering bills.  

“The Government must finally pull the plug on Thames Water. That is why we are calling for Thames Water to urgently be placed under special administration.  

“We are also calling on the Government to finally scrap Ofwat and replace it with a regulator actually capable of holding water companies accountable to ensure this can never happen again.”