Hold a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership
This petition gathered 213,751 signatures between 1 April 2026 and 1 October 2026, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 23 April 2026. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 14 September 2026.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Hold a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership
Hold a binding national referendum on whether the water industry should be returned to public ownership. Water is a basic human necessity; we believe our privatised system has failed, so the public should decide who owns and controls it.
Private water companies have about 62 million captive customers whose bills have delivered over £85 Bn to shareholders; money that in public ownership could have been spent on fixing our infrastructure. No other country in the world has privatised water like this. We believe that proposed government reforms to regulation show that water company owners are being favoured over the public, and this is not right in a democracy. A referendum would give the public back its voice about its water.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 23 April 2026; the petitions site lists the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as responsible. Its summary:
Nationalisation would take years and involve complex legal processes, diverting effort from cleaning up rivers, lakes and seas. We are taking action now through stronger regulation and enforcement.
The opening 354 words of the 479-word response:
The government recognises the strength of public concern about the performance of the water industry. Water is a vital public service, and people rightly expect clean rivers, reliable services and greater accountability from water companies.
Some campaigners have called for a binding referendum on returning the water industry to public ownership. However, the government has no intention of nationalising the water sector currently and does not believe that a national referendum would deliver faster improvements for customers or the environment. Any move to nationalisation would take many years to implement, involve significant legal and operational complexity, and risk prolonged uncertainty and disruption across the sector. That would divert time, energy and attention away from the urgent work needed now to tackle sewage pollution, protect public health and improve water quality.
That is why the government is delivering the most significant reform of water regulation in a generation. Through the Water White Paper, we are introducing a single, more powerful regulator for the water sector, bringing together existing bodies and giving it the authority and expertise needed to hold water companies properly to account. A Chief Engineer will sit at the heart of the new regulator, ending the days of water companies marking their own homework and ensuring that regulators can independently assess the condition of pipes, pumps and treatment works.
The new system will introduce MOT style checks on water companies’ infrastructure, with tougher consequences for those that fail, alongside no notice inspections so there will be nowhere and no chance to hide poor performance. Dedicated supervisory teams and stronger intervention powers will allow regulators to act earlier and more decisively where companies are falling short.
We are also improving transparency so both the public and regulators can see what is happening in near real time. Water companies are required to publish detailed data on sewage discharges, and reforms will go further to make performance information clearer, more accessible and easier to understand. This transparency will support better public awareness, enable communities to scrutinise performance locally, and strengthen links between environmental protection and public health, including through the Chief Medical Officer’s Public Health Taskforce.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies. Measured against each constituency's electorate at the 2024 general election, the most came from Witney, with 32.9 signatures per 1,000 electors (2,485 in all).
212,222 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,529 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures | Electorate, July 2024 | Per 1,000 electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Witney | 2,485 | 75,448 | 32.9 |
| Canterbury | 2,204 | 71,155 | 31.0 |
| Isle of Wight East | 848 | 55,855 | 15.2 |
| Bicester and Woodstock | 1,113 | 74,353 | 15.0 |
| Isle of Wight West | 824 | 55,406 | 14.9 |
| Herne Bay and Sandwich | 1,126 | 77,869 | 14.5 |
| North Cornwall | 1,057 | 76,741 | 13.8 |
| North Cotswolds | 1,004 | 73,203 | 13.7 |
| Brighton Pavilion | 1,006 | 74,786 | 13.5 |
| Oxford West and Abingdon | 900 | 69,851 | 12.9 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 50,137 |
| South West | 31,601 |
| London | 22,423 |
| East of England | 20,423 |
| North West | 20,248 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 16,541 |
| West Midlands | 14,367 |
| East Midlands | 13,316 |
| Wales | 8,941 |
| North East | 6,918 |
| Scotland | 4,977 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,008 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 14 September 2026. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/762640.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
d8c3da1193788007… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.