‘Disgusted, diabolical, wrong’: Voters united in anger at water bill rise

‘Disgusted’: Labour, Tory and Reform voters united in anger at water bill rise



Posted by theipaper

20 comments
  1. People from across the political spectrum tell focus group it is wrong to put up bills when Britain faces a sewage crisis

    Voters from all parties say they are “disgusted” with the “absolutely crazy” decision to [allow water companies to raise their bills](https://inews.co.uk/news/extra-water-bill-hikes-unless-labour-kills-watchdog-3442204?ico=in-line_link) in order to fund greater investment in the network.

    The Government [says the move is inevitable](https://inews.co.uk/news/water-bills-rise-20-percent-a-year-3440401?ico=in-line_link) because of the need to fix crumbling infrastructure and limit the extent of[ sewage spills](https://inews.co.uk/news/illegal-sewage-dumping-water-firms-regulators-3434771?srsltid=AfmBOoqrJPnJzfN4H8l4I5IyDBoNRQUk_uuD6dNd7MjCTiu2NvDwu6Fq&ico=in-line_link) in the rivers, lakes and seas of England and Wales.

    And Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he remains committed to [driving down the cost of living](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/new-year-inflation-warning-pressures-reeves-starmer-price-rises-3439843?ico=in-line_link) despite the increase to water bills.

    The average bill will rise by £86 next year, and another £71 over the following four years, [following a decision by the regulator Ofwat](https://inews.co.uk/news/how-water-bill-affected-ofwat-rise-3440631?srsltid=AfmBOopo7oYDpe-yA2SGEOYfw_pyyUCbOUc3VZ4JFmucFaQZ9pv_Lh8C&ico=in-line_link).

    In an online focus group run by JL Partners on behalf of campaign group 38 Degrees, voters from across the political spectrum united in anger at the prospect of higher bills following several years in which the extent of sewage pollution in the UK has been laid bare.

    A 76-year-old Conservative supporter said: “Disgusted. The shareholders and bosses have taken profits and dividends for many years and now the consumers have to pay for interstructure improvements they should have invested in.”

    A 65-year-old woman who voted Reform UK said the bill increase was “absolutely crazy” and claimed she “will have to cut back on showers now as well as heating and food”.

    A Labour-backing woman described the decision as “daylight robbery”, and a 19-year-old who did not vote at the last general election said: “That is just diabolical. It makes me feel confused. It makes me feel betrayed. It makes me feel like they have taken my hopes and money and spat on it, thrown them on the floor, trod on them and then picked them up and threw them back into my face while pocketing the money.”

  2. Why haven’t we seen any of the water company bosses prosecuted for outraging public decency.

  3. Absolutely incredible that vulture capitalists will extract profit from a captive industry with no competition.

  4. Need to do some serious wrecking of this bull shit system

  5. The solution should be simple – you can put up bills but you can’t pay dividends or have exec pay rises. 

  6. This sort of regulatory capture is why it matters when MPs take freebies and gifts, have “second jobs” that pay more than their actual job, go out for free meals at expensive restaurants with lobbyists every day, etc. They can scream bloody murder about the problems in opposition but as soon as they’re in power they’re reluctant to do anything that would threaten the flow of totally free gifts from all their new besties.

  7. Disgusting how they take huge pay cheques, bonuses, dividends yet perform so horrendously.

    When the Wii U flopped the owner of Nintendo Minamoto took a 50% salary reduction instead of firing any one. Let’s make our water companies behave more honourable.

  8. All the executives and higher ups should lose bonuses and that money used to improve the systems they are supposed to provide and if they don’t fine them

  9. we live in a world where greed drives up prices… what do we Really expect?

    water companies to turn around and go- we’ll decrease it for you, we can skip that extra Champagne bottle on christmas day…..

  10. As if they won’t raise it again once these planned raises are over. We’re being taken for pricks at every opportunity. OFWAT and OFGEM need investigating

  11. So the increase is “inevitable” cause they need to fix the infrastructure but the companies are generating profits on what is fundamentally a human right?

    Vulture capitalism is fucking horrendous

  12. Finnaly something I can get behind, not bloody wealthy farmers moaning about paying taxes.

  13. 🎵🎵🎵

    Freedom isn’t free
    It costs folks like you and me
    And if we don’t all chip in
    We’ll never pay that bill
    Freedom isn’t free
    No, there’s a hefty fuckin’ fee
    And if you don’t throw in your buck o’ five
    Who wiiiiiilllllllll

    🎵😉🎵😄🎵

  14. Keir has a thankless task. No doubt the vultures will be hovering saying its hia fault. I wonder what toad face would do in a situation like this

  15. Another fuck up from Labour. Take trains back into public ownership, even though not everybody uses trains, but we’ll leave water to the private companies

  16. Simple solution.

    Make greed illegal.

    You’re welcome.

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