74% of Britons believe water companies should be run in the public sector, but support falls to 31% if it required an increase in bills, borrowing or taxes
Key takeaways
- In principle, 74% of Britons believe water companies should be run in the public sector, while just 6% favour them being run in the private sector
- 60% would support nationalisation even if it did not have a significant impact on water bills, but just 30-31% would support it if it required the government to raise bills, borrowing or taxes in order to purchase or operate the water companies
- By 53% to 27%, Britons would support water companies being privately run but with stricter regulation
- Most Britons expect nationalised water companies would be better at investing in infrastructure and protecting the environment, while also tending to expect it would lead to improvements in water bills
The state of Britain’s water companies has been a recurring political question in recent years, from concerns about hikes in water bills, to the environmental impact of their dumping of sewage in waterways, to the financial crisis at Thames Water, and even to water outages in parts of the country.
For some, the root cause of all these issues is the privately run nature of water companies in England and Wales, with a return to public ownership being the solution. While saying that full nationalisation would be complicated at present, Andy Burnham has stressed the need for ‘public control’ of water companies since he became PM, and has said “there’s a very strong case for public ownership” in the case of Thames Water.
Is a nationalised water network something the British public would be up for? New YouGov polling reveals attitudes to the water companies, what the public would expect from publicly-owned water companies and how strong support for nationalisation actually is.
Do Britons support nationalising the water companies?
In principle, Britons largely support the nationalisation of water companies, with 74% saying they believe they should be run in the public sector, relative to just 6% feeling that they should be run in the private sector.
This support is broad-based, with even two thirds of Conservative and Reform voters (67%) believing water companies should be a public concern, though this is lower than the 79-84% of Labour, Green and Lib Dem voters who feel the same.
The reasons the public give for backing nationalisation are far from uniform. For just 29% of nationalisation supporters does it appear to be ‘ideological’, with them believing that the public sector is generally better at running things.
Instead, for a greater 39%, it’s a case-by-case question, with neither sector seen as inherently more competent, it’s just the public sector would be the better fit in this case. And for a further 27%, their support for nationalising water companies is an exception from their belief that the private sector is typically better at running things.
By contrast, the small proportion of Britons who believe water companies should be run in the private sector overwhelmingly do so despite thinking they have done a bad job so far, saying “while I don’t think the private sector has done a good job at running the water companies, the public sector would do worse”. This accounts for 67% of those who want to keep water companies privately-run, with only one in seven (14%) actively endorsing their choice on the basis that water companies have been well run so far.
What improvements would Britons expect from nationalising the water companies?
Britons tend to be optimistic about the likely impact of nationalising water companies, with a majority (53-55%) expecting a wholly-publicly owned water network would lead to greater levels of investment in water infrastructure and better commitments to protecting the natural environment, relative to only 9% feeling the situation on either front would get worse.
Four in ten Britons (40%) also expect that the cost of water bills would get better under a wholly nationalised water system, though 25% believe nationalisation would make no difference to the cost of their water bill and 18% believe their water bill would instead get worse.
There’s less expectation that a nationalised water company would be better at dealing with customer complaints, with just 27% expecting an improvement in this area, compared to 32% expecting there would be no real change and 18% fearing it would lead to a worse level of customer service.
How many Britons still support nationalising the water companies if it results in higher costs?
Of course, while many members of the public might expect nationalisation to lead to things like lower water bills, there’s many a reason to expect this would not necessarily be borne out, not least that most expert analyses reckon the cost of nationalisation would run to tens of billions.
Six in ten Britons (60%) say they would support the nationalisation of water companies even if it did not lead to a significant change in water bills, relative to just 20% saying they would oppose it in this scenario (including 17% who back public ownership in principle).
An additional price tag, however, is a sticking point. Just three in ten Britons (30-31%) say they would support nationalising water companies in their entirety if it required an increase in taxes or borrowing to purchase the water companies up front, or if it required increases in water bills or taxes in order for the government to operate them and invest in infrastructure. Here, a small majority of Britons (52-54%) say they would instead oppose nationalisation, including nearly half of those who support it in theory (48-49%).
One alternative to full public ownership, and one believed to be the government’s preference for most water companies, would be for water companies to largely remain in private ownership, but with more stringent regulation by the government.
Most Britons (53%) say they would support such a middle-ground, relative to 27% being opposed to strongly regulated but privately run water companies. Support for this option includes 56% of those who in principle favour nationalisation and, as with full public ownership itself, includes majorities (51-65%) of those who voted for each of the five main parties at the last election.
How do Britons feel about water companies at present?
Separate YouGov research has shown that more than six in ten Britons (63%) have a negative opinion of the water sector, making it about as unpopular as fast fashion and social media companies.
When it comes to how well water companies have been carrying out their role, dissatisfaction with the status quo is undoubtedly widespread, with 72% of adults in England and Wales believing their water company is doing a bad job on the cost of water bills, and 63-64% seeing them as doing poorly at investing in water infrastructure or protecting the natural environment.
In Scotland, where water companies are nationalised and which has the lowest water bills in the country, there is still a degree of dissatisfaction at the sector, but at a significantly lower rate: just 36% feel water companies are doing a bad job on the cost of water bills, while 40-44% see them as doing badly at investing in infrastructure or protecting the environment.
See the full results here
Methodology
- Sample size: An online survey of 2,072 adults aged 18+ living in Great Britain
- Fieldwork: 7 to 8 September 2026
- Commissioned by: YouGov
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