'˜Put water in public hands'

GMB, the union for water industry workers, said Southern Water is 74 per cent owned by shareholders in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Australia and the United States and another unknown location. 

The union is calling for '˜the end of water privatisation' and is calling on Environment Secretary Michael Gove to put water back in public hands. Southern Water is responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire and other areas.

It said having a broad investor base including foreign investors is an important part in demonstrating to lenders and regulators it has a stable structure, which provides them with confidence.

GMB said it found as part of an investigation into company accounts Southern Water is 40 per cent owned by a US investment fund, 22 per cent by UBS Bank in Switzerland, five per cent  by Cheung Kong Infrastructure and Li Ka Shing Foundation in Hong Kong, eight per cent by a pension fund in Australia and five per cent by an infrastructure investment company from an unknown location.

GMB said consumer water bills in England and Wales have increased by 40 per cent above inflation since privatisation in 1989 according to the National Audit Office.

GMB investigations into England's privatised water companies showed dividends of £6.5bn were paid to shareholders in the past five years.

Southern Water said no dividends were paid to external shareholders in 2017-18.

Tim Roache, GMB's general secretary, said: '˜It is a scandal that the water that falls from England's skies is now overwhelmingly owned by overseas profiteers. Every time we turn on the tap, businesses around the globe are making money at our expense.'

Southern Water said all  operations are in the UK and all companies in the group are UK domiciled for tax purposes. It paid £69.7m to the Exchequer in 2017.