Hi Ocean Activist, 

Today, the High Court sided with the industry fat cats and granted a £3bn bailout for Thames Water.😠😠😠 This shocking decision is simply a sticking plaster that will allow Thames to limp along until it requires another bailout, with customers footing the bill.

It will not make our waters any cleaner. It will not stop people getting sick. It simply reinforces what we already know: the system is broken.

Nearly 30,000 of you signed our petition to #BanTheBailouts. The public has spoken. The government must step in and put Thames Water into special administration. We demand radical reform of the water industry and an end to pollution for profit. 

After decades of pollution and financial mismanagement, Thames Water is on the brink of collapse with £18bn of debt.

Thames bosses and creditors were seeking a further £3bn emergency loan to restructure the company and try to save it from going bust. They needed the High Court to approve this.

This morning, the High Court approved the £3bn rescue loan for Thames Water. This is a huge missed opportunity to show that profit from pollution won't be tolerated. You can read the full judgement here.

Of the first £1.5bn, just £500m is likely to be used to improve infrastructure. The rest will be swallowed up by fees and interest payments.

We Own It have estimated that £250 of Thames customers' annual bills would end up going towards paying off this loan.

We believe this decision simply delays the inevitable collapse of a company that has been run to the ground at the expense of customers and the environment.

But there is another way. The government must step in and put Thames Water into special administration. This is their chance to show water companies around the UK that they will be held to account for their failings.

This year, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the water sector. Our campaigning in 2024 forced the government to implement the Independent Water Commission, who will be collecting evidence and giving recommendations this year.

We will be campaigning flat-out to ensure the commission recommends transformational reform of the sector and ends the status quo where people and planet suffer, whilst the polluters get rich.
 

Keep your eyes peeled 👀 we'll be sending any further actions you can take straight to your inbox.

Keep up the good fight, Ocean Activist. ✊

For the ocean,

Henry, Policy Manager