Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park, Sarah Olney, has called on the government to make public its contingency plan for Thames Water’s failure, and to go further and put the company into special administration.
Olney secured an adjournment debate on the contingency plan, known as Project Timber, following what she described as weeks of snubbed requests for it to be published. “This is despite what is now overwhelming public interest to do so,” she said.
She went on to demand “drastic action” in the form of the triggering of the special administration regime. Olney argued that on top fo the “chaos” Thames causes for its customers every day and its dividend record and debt pile, the fact that it won’t be participating in the wider industry’s £180m accelerated storm overflow investment programme is a sure sign it is time for the government to act. “With Thames Water clearly unable to pay its debts and with its latest refusal to contribute investment to combat sewage, I believe the threshold has now been met for the government to take this as a course of action.”
She explained: “Under these new proposals, the taxpayer would not be liable for any debts, and the special administrator could restructure this failing firm into a company for the public benefit. That would ensure no interruption in service for millions of households across the capital and the south of England, while allowing the company to be stabilised – no longer relying on its failing board….Thames Water is no longer a functioning company, and the government have a choice: either bail them out with taxpayer money, or listen to our calls to put it into special administration to then be reformed into a company for the public benefit.”
Responding for the Government, Defra minister Mark Spencer refused to share details of Project Timber, commenting: “I do not want to be drawn into the specific cases of specific companies because there are market sensitivities.” However he insisted: “I want to reassure the House that the government are prepared for a range of scenarios across all our regulated industries, including across all water companies.”
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