Water boss floats secret plan with Labour to escape nationalisation

LIV GARFIELD, the boss of FTSE 100 water giant Severn Trent, is trying to bring a task force of utility bosses together with the Labour party in an attempt to head off the threat of nationalisation.

- Simon English

In an email sent to other utility CEOs which she describes as “sensitive” and “highly confidential”, the £4 million-a-year Garfield asks them to join an “off-the-record roundtable” with Will Hutton, the Observer journalist best known for books critical of capitalism including The State We’re In.

Her move comes as water companies face the threat of being re-nationalised, decades after they were privatised as one of Margaret Thatcher’s free-market reforms.

Garfield writes: “Whilst it is clear Labour will not include nationalisation in its next manifesto, they are also not keen on entering into the election race championing the status quo. The leadership thinks there is room for improvement and, politically, there is significant pressure to ‘do something’ about utilities.”