Andy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company.
Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, has said that an SAR cannot be triggered under the current law because of the way the US hedge funds that bought Thames Water’s debt have kept it running while seeking a deal to renegotiate its liabilities.
The intervention comes after 64 MPs debated a 200,000-strong petition, set up by the campaigner Ash Smith of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, to hold a referendum on putting the privatised water industry back into public ownership.
The consortium of hedge funds is trying to take over Thames in a multibillion-pound restructuring.
4 sentences from our version of the report,
chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below.
How
Summarized version
Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, has said an SAR cannot be triggered under the current law because of the way the US hedge funds that bought Thames Water’s debt have kept it running while seeking a deal to renegotiate its liabilities. The consortium of hedge funds is attempting to take over Thames in a multibillion-pound restructuring.
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The article, shortened and in plain language
Efra committee calls for emergency legislation enabling government to take public control of the company.
Andy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company.
Alistair Carmichael, the chair of the environment, food and rural affairs committee, said it was unbelievable that the special administration government for insolvent or failing water companies could not be triggered for Thames Water on performance grounds alone.
Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, has said that an SAR cannot be triggered under the current law because of the way the US hedge funds that bought Thames Water’s debt have kept it running while seeking a deal to renegotiate its liabilities.
We believe Thames Water can be turned around, but not by giving the keys back to the people who have been joy-riding in the family car.
The intervention comes after 64 MPs debated a 200,000-strong petition, set up by the campaigner Ash Smith of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, to hold a referendum on putting the privatised water industry back into public ownership.
MPs on the Efra committee said they were concerned that not enough regulatory due diligence had been carried out on the US-led consortium that bought Thames Water’s debt.
The consortium of hedge funds is trying to take over Thames in a multibillion-pound restructuring.
MPs said: “Their demands show that they will not prioritise the swift turnaround in performance that Thames Water so needs.”
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