I have always thought that privatisation of the utilities was a dangerous thing to do. The problem was way back then that many of the nationalised companies were basket cases and were sucking the life out of the economy. The wave of privatisation was a result of peoples frustration with over exuberant unions, appalling and lazy leadership and the “make a quick buck” mentality. To take a charitable view of the policy I think the Tories expected lots of the small share holders to keep their shares and in turn put pressure on the crap and idle management of these companies to do the jobs properly. History tells us they were wrong.
The utilities needed a shake up, it’s odd that the equally vital fuel suppliers have never been put forward as good prospects for nationalisation maybe because they’ve always been run as proficient and profitable entities.
To compare today’s water companies with those of way back is a tad unfair because they now have to contend with increased energy charges, environment responsibilities and employee costs but clearly (as with energy companies) they do have a remarkable knack of shooting themselves up the arse in terms of public relations. We need a strong PM to now make these arseholes face up to their social responsibility or pay the price. No doubt there is far more to all of this than we peasants are allowed to know but it really is time for action