Minister Reed challenged to release his Mandelson messages

The former DEFRA minister ignored all calls to nationalise the water industry. Now campaigners want to know why, and whether lobbying firm Global Counsel had any role in the matter

Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North, when he can be bothered), who is already up to his neck in the Labour Together scandal that has engulfed the Labour Party in disgrace, is now being dragged back into the swamp of sewage that surrounds the water industry.

Reed has been challenged to release all his private messages and correspondence with Peter Mandelson, the co-founder of a lobbying firm which was working for the water industry when the Croydon MP was the minister in charge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Millions of television viewers have been shocked over the last two nights by the Channel 4 docu-drama Dirty Business, which is raising public awareness over the privatised water monopolies in the way that Mr Bates v The Post Office threw a spotlight on the plight of sub-postmasters and the Fujitsu scandal.

Dirty Business is a harrowing account of the death of eight-year-old Heather Preen from EColi, caused by sewage pollution on Dawlish beach in 1999, and the water companies’ part in the tragedy.

The drama also raises the matter of corporate negligence, and the revolving door between the water companies and the bodies that are supposed to be regulating them.

Steve Reed was, for a spell, the Secretary of State at DEFRA, the environment department with an overview of the operations of the privatised water monopolies. In that time, Reed stubbornly rejected all calls for the re-nationalisation of the failing water industry.

The excuse regularly given is that any nationalisation of water would cost the state £100billion – but this is based on figures in a discredited report produced by lobbyists working for the water industry.

Inside Croydon has reported previously about Reed accepting thousands of pounds of hospitality from lobbying firms working on behalf of the water companies, something our government system allows, but which more principled individuals in positions of power might avoid.

Separately, information is emerging all the time through the publication in America of the Epstein Files. Documents released have prompted the arrest of Peter Mandelson, the former British Ambassador to Washington and a close associate of the disgraced paedophile and convicted sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson also has links to Labour Together and to Reed’s close colleague, Morgan McSweeney, who was recently forced to resign as the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff for his part in the swirling scandal over the ambassadorial appointment.

In 2010, Mandelson sought Epstein’s advice when establishing his own lobbying firm, Global Counsel.

And among the impressive roster of blue-chip clients who spent millions hiring Global Counsel to smooch and influence those in power was the privatised water industry – effectively paying for influence over effluent.

Reed, now the cabinet member responsible for housing, communities and local government, is being challenged over his links with Global Counsel and Mandelson.

Cat Hobbs, the chief exec of We Own It, the campaign group arguing for state ownership of utilities, many of which have been built and paid for by the state over decades, has fired off an open letter to Reed.

In her letter, Hobbs says: “It has now become irrefutably clear that Mandelson used his position among senior Labour ministers to meet the interests of corporations and private profit, instead of the public that this government was elected to represent.

“During your time as Environment Secretary, it was revealed that Mandelson’s lobbying company – Global Counsel – was working on behalf of Water UK, the trade body for water and sewage companies.

“In the same period of time, the Cunliffe Review – which your government celebrated as a once-in-a-generation independent review of the water sector – refused to even consider public ownership as an option.

“This is despite the fact that the vast majority of the public want to see water in public hands.

“Additionally, at this moment, a group of unaccountable creditors formalised as the London and Valley Water Consortium have become the de facto controllers of Thames Water, despite no formal transfer of power being overseen by Ofwat.

“This raises the question, who has been controlling our water industry, and for what purpose?

“In order to begin answering this question, we demand that you follow Wes Streeting’s example, and release all of your messages with Peter Mandelson.

“We, the public – who pay for and depend upon our water system – have a right to a system which is run in the interest of people and planet. We are entitled to know if, when and why this right has been denied to us.”

For more about We Own It’s public ownership campaigns, click here

More Reed: MP Reed shown a yellow card for cosying up to water lobbyists

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