Water nationalisation critic, Angela Smith, among Labour defectors

Among the Labour Party defectors who are poised to set up a new independent political party was active participant in water sector matters Angela Smith MP who is highly regarded by the industry.

Smith (pictured) last year lost a vote of no confidence brought by local party members who objected to her criticism of Labour’s policy on water nationalisation and of party leader Jeremy Corbyn more broadly.

In a recent speech to British Water she supported the proposal that water companies should be considered as social enterprises – a view highlighted at THE WATER REPORT's November summit and promoted by Ofwat chief, Rachel Fletcher.

In a statement on her constituency website explaining her decision to quit the Labour Part she said: “Labour is a party now characterised by intolerance and fuelled by hatred for anything other than a hard left political agenda; it fosters division rather than unity and despises all those who dare to disagree with its fundamentalist approach to political debate."