Millward says Greens would nationalise water in England and Wales

Green Party co-deputy leader Rachel Millward has said her party would nationalise water companies in England and Wales.

Millward set out the commitment in a round of interviews with local BBC radio stations across England ahead of the Green Party conference. She is expected to address nationalisation and how to pay for it in a speech at the conference in Brighton BBC.

Millward told the BBC that the country's water system was an "absolutely unmitigated disaster". She argued there had been "radical underinvestment" in the system over decades.

She criticised Prime Minister Andy Burnham's plans to bring water companies under public control as "vague". She said that public control of water is not enough.

Burnham's plan involves removing limits on government ownership of shares in water companies and giving mayors more powers to scrutinise them BBC. The distinction matters. Westminster has drawn a line between loosening the cap on state shareholdings, with enhanced mayoral oversight, and taking the assets into public ownership. Millward placed the Greens on the second side of that line.

The party has said water companies cannot by law be shut down and that its plan would seize their assets, leaving the companies as empty shell accounts. The policy applies to England and Wales. Water is devolved, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate arrangements.

Cost is now the central point of contention. In its 2024 manifesto, the Green Party of England and Wales estimated that nationalising water companies and the five biggest retail energy firms would cost £30bn over the five years of a parliament. The UK government estimated last year that nationalising the water industry alone would cost approximately £100bn BBC.

That gap will dominate scrutiny in Brighton. The Greens will be pressed on valuation methodology, compensation, debt treatment and the timetable for transfer. Ministers will be pressed on whether their own figure assumes full market-value buyout at current prices.

The immediate test case is Thames Water. The government is considering the option of nationalising the company, which is facing a severe financial crisis. No decision has been announced. The choice is company-specific intervention or sector-wide restructuring.

The broader context here is electoral positioning as well as utilities policy. The Greens arrived in Brighton with parliamentary by-election and mayoral contests in the background. Zack Polanski was selected as the Green candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, chosen by local members in Camden with the candidacy announced at Kings Place in King's Cross. Polanski later launched the party's fundraiser for local elections scheduled for 7 May. Geraldine Coggins is the Green candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor, with that election scheduled for 30 July. Coggins announced a 10-year plan for 20,000 genuinely affordable homes in Greater Manchester, centred on a new publicly owned provider called Homes for Greater Manchester.

Looking at what this means for Westminster, water gives both Labour and the Greens a public-ownership offer with very different fiscal and legal implications. Burnham offers incremental state participation and local accountability. Millward offers full transfer. Voters in England and Wales pay the bills and live with pollution and supply failures. They will judge the two models on credibility, cost and speed of improvement.

The Brighton speech will need to close the funding question. A headline pledge to nationalise is straightforward. A funded route to do it is harder. Expect detailed questioning on the £30bn figure, on whether it still holds, and on how the Greens would legislate for asset seizure while leaving corporate shells in place.