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Millward calls for immediate takeback of 'failed' water companies

She calls for national takeover of South East Water and Thames Water, without compensation for shareholders. She tells conference:

double quotation markBurnham’s 10 year plan of gentle threats and vague notions of control is not enough. Too many of our water companies have already failed.

Right here in Sussex, we too often find ourselves driving to pick up bottled water because nothing is coming out of our taps.

Not a single major reservoir has been built in this country since the beginning of privatisation 35 years ago.

And so, today, the Green Party is announcing that we would, immediately - not in 10 years, but before Christmas, bring South East Water and Thames Water back into public ownership at no cost to the tax payer.

We have all the tools we need to make it happen. Forget compensation for shareholders and creditors, these are insolvent companies.

Earlier she had laid out the issue:

double quotation mark

We see the sewage being pumped into our river by private profit making companies - and we see just how far wrong we’ve gone.

Water - the very stuff of life - uniquely found on this planet in the whole wide universe - the stuff we’re made of - it replenishes us, cleans us, connects us… and we — sold it.

Key events

• 1h ago

  Half of UK wants to rejoin the EU, poll suggests

• 2h ago

  Recap of Greens deputy leader speeches

• 2h ago

  Greens pledge 'youth jobs guarantee'

• 3h ago

  Ali to Braverman: 'I'm brown, Muslim and as English as a cup of tea'

• 3h ago

  Ali calls on Burnham to recognise racist displays as 'national emergency'

• 3h ago

  Ali: 'Can we build a country confident enough to live with difference?'

• 3h ago

  Millward calls for immediate takeback of 'failed' water companies

• 3h ago

  Polanski called for rent brakes to give people 'breathing space'

• 3h ago

  Anti-migrant demonstrations planned in Southampton and Dover

• 4h ago

  Farage has 'not been believed' on safety fears, says Tice

• 4h ago

  Opening summary

Aletha Adu

Away from the main centre, the Greens heard different arguments about how hard they should challenge Labour without inadvertently helping Reform UK.

About 150 people attended a discussion on progressive politics with Joe Todd, a Green member working with Greens Organise urging the party to apply “maximum pressure” while remaining mindful of not letting Reform in, including in constituencies where the contest would be primarily between Labour and the Greens.

Adrian Ramsay, the Green MP for Waveney Valley, made the case for the party to broaden its electoral appeal beyond urban, liberal and progressive voters and compete in small-c Conservative areas.

Meanwhile Neal Lawson, director of cross party campaign organisation Compass, said the wider challenge for the Greens was finding the balance between outright opposition to Labour and the possibility of exerting pressure on, or eventually working with the party.

Speaking to The Guardian after the event, he said there was nervousness about the prospect of a hung parliament and whether the Greens as much as a smaller party could be “eaten alive” if they entered some form of partnership with Labour.

“This is big boys and girls politics, and they’re going to have to get their hands dirty if they want to have influence”, he said.

Rajeev Syal

Away from Brighton, a flagship Labour authority has warned it may have to impose a 150% council tax rise on residents to maintain current services following central government cuts under a new funding settlement.

Hammersmith and Fulham council’s cabinet has concluded in a report due to be published on Monday that such a rise would cost Band D households an additional £29.11 a week in 2027/28.

The west London council has said it is losing more than half of its government grant under Labour’s “fair funding” review, which was introduced last year to redirect cash from affluent areas to places hit hardest by austerity.

Ministers have argued that the review will mean that local authorities with “historically low” council tax levels will have the cash they receive from Whitehall slashed, forcing them to bring bills into line with national averages to make up shortfalls.

Hammersmith and Fulham, along with Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth, City of London, and Windsor and Maidenhead councils, have been given powers to raise bills above the 5% cap next year to balance its budget in the wake of cuts.

In a document seen by the Guardian, the councillor Rowan Ree, serving as cabinet member for finance and reform, said the council was “facing the biggest financial challenge in living memory” under the new funding formula. The council received £150.5m in government funding in 2025/26, but this will be cut by more than half to £72.4m over the next four years.

Read the full report here:

Half of UK wants to rejoin the EU, poll suggests

Pippa Crerar

Andy Burnham’s personal preference to rejoin the European Union after the next election is supported by almost half of all voters, a new megapoll has found, although cabinet ministers concerned about reopening Brexit divides are privately urging him to proceed with caution.

The poll by the Messina Group (TMG) found that renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the EU could boost Labour’s vote share by as much as seven points, if the prime minister offered a fresh referendum in which he campaigned to re-enter the bloc.

Almost a third of voters said an in-out referendum would be needed first, while more than one in six felt that a general election mandate would be sufficient, and the same proportion thought parliament could make the decision.

The overall findings will bolster the case of those inside Downing Street who want to promise at the next election that Labour would at least negotiate over re-entry, which the prime minister has said he wants to see “in his lifetime”.

Burnham used his first Labour conference speech as leader on Tuesday to announce a review of the options for Britain’s future relationship with Europe, and subsequently added that these should include rejoining entirely.

However, there are nerves among some Labour MPs, especially those with constituencies that voted for Brexit, that even testing out public support for the move would be fraught with political risk and a potential boost to Reform.

Aletha Adu

My colleague, Aletha Adu, was in the room this morning as Millward and Ali delivered their speeches to members. She writes:It’s been a greyer start to day two of Green Party conference in Brighton, after the sunshine, warmth and buzz that came with Zack Polanski’s leader’s speech on Friday.

Polanski himself has already left conference to return to Holborn and St Pancas where he is campaigning for the byelection next week. But there was still some warmth in the conference centre for his deputy Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali, who received some cheers as he turned his speech towards race, belonging and the rise of the far right.

In one of the best received lines, Ali attacked Suella Braverman declaring “I’m Brown, I’m Muslim, but I’m as English as a Yorkshire cup of tea!” but there was politics behind the applause.

The Greens believe their message on race, migration and multiculturalism can help them retain the attention of progressive voters who’ve previously backed Labour. Especially since the party’s trying to present itself as a more unequivocal alternative with some people still cautiously watching Andy Burnham.

Speaking to some members afterwards there was a sense among some that Millward’s speech had felt more limited but she won applause for calling for the immediate return of Thames Water and South East Water to public ownership without compensation for shareholders.

There’s a sense of celebration among members about the size of their party and perhaps the sense that the Greens should be behaving like a party capable of converting enthusiasm into lasting political support.”

Recap of Greens deputy leader speeches

Those are the main keynote speeches today at the Greens party conference, from deputy leaders Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali who both opened their speeeches with a recap of the party’s significant membership growth particularly among young people.

There are now more than 200,000 members across England and Wales, making the Greens the third-largest political party.

“Meeting so many of you on action days around the country, getting more Greens elected, sharing our message on climate, inequality, immigration, trans rights. It’s been a year of hope,” said Millward.

While the PM at Labour conference last week announced a 10-year plan to renationalise water companies, Millward said this delay was a mistake.

She called for an immediate buyback of ‘failed’ water companies Thames Water and South-East, amid a broader call for people to take greater power of natural assets to stop tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and AI CEOs who are “hoarding the world’s wealth, polluting our planet” . She said they were fuelling the climate disaster with energy-guzzling data centres and profiting off misinformation and online division.

“Andy Burnham talks a lot about reversing 40 years of neoliberalism, but we can’t just look back. We stand on the cusp of unprecedented, technological, and social change.”

Meanwhile Mothin Ali used his speech to call for greater celebrations and protections for “multiracial, multicultural Britain” noting that the country was only growing more diverse and was stronger for it.

He said the rising levels of racist violence and intimidation though warranted the Burnham government calling a “national emergency”. As I noted earlier, there are scheduled anti-immigration protests to take place on the south coast today.

There needs to be more done to “protect everyone’s equal right to belong, and to make diversity work for us”, said Ali

double quotation markLive and let live. Now, that’s a simple phrase that I’ve always lived by. But in a diverse democracy, it’s something that’s profound. You don’t have to become your neighbour. You don’t have to worship. You don’t have to vote like them. You don’t even have to agree with them. But you do have to recognise their equal right to insist and to belong… We have to speak to people we disagree with. We have to listen seriously to genuine concerns about immigration, housing, public services, and security. And we need to distinguish between legitimate political argument from the denigration of whole communities.

Greens pledge 'youth jobs guarantee'

Ali says democracy “means very little without economic security” and launches into announcing a job guarantee for young people, if the Greens were to be in power.

There are 1 million young people in the UK – roughly one in every seven British people aged 16-24- who are categorised as a Neet (not in education, employment or training).

He notes this crisis, and says current policies – threatening to withold or cut welfare payments like universal credit if people don’t accept short-term work placements – are poor youth strategies making the problem worse.

double quotation markAcross London, Wales, young people are struggling from Cardiff to Birmingham, from Leeds to Leicester, from Liverpool to Sheffield. They’re forced to compete with a handful of jobs. We need to do better.

So the Greens solution, he says, is a youth jobs guarantee.

He says that the Greens in power would launch a scheme “providing a guaranteed job for every 18- to 24-year-old lasting up to two years, which start by introducing them into the areas that are worst-hit by usual unemployment”.

He doesn’t list which areas these are and detail is scant on how these jobs would be made and funded, where they’d come from, how they would be implemented.

He says the new jobs would be aligned with “our critical national missions: a stronger care economy, a green transition, homes for all, and a sustainable food system, a nature recovery”.

Mothin Ali then goes on to say the Greens could become the “most inclusive political movement in modern Britain”, saying the party wants to be the place for people to feel like they belong and are empowered.

He’s gearing up to announcing the party’s economic policy plank of promising jobs for young people – giving them financial security.

double quotation markWhether you’re a black boy sitting in a park, or whether you’re a Jewish family towards a synagogue, or whether you’re a Muslim in a mosque.

Or someone seeking safety after fleeing from war and persecution.

There should be no street, no neighbourhood, and no place in this country where you can’t live your life in peace.

Belonging should never be a condition on race, religion, accent, or background.

So what do we do? When people feel powerless, give them meaningful power. When they feel unheard, create places where they genuinely have a voice.

Ali to Braverman: 'I'm brown, Muslim and as English as a cup of tea'

He also singles out Suella Braverman, former Tory Home Secretary and now a Reform spokeswoman, who said on Question Time this week that she doesn’t consider herself to be English because of her Asian heritage.

She said she identified as British Asian but not “an English person” because her parents were born abroad – sparking widespread outrage.

“A message to Suella Braveman,” said Ali.

“I’m brown. I’m Muslim, but I’m as English as a Yorkshire cup of tea.”

Ali calls on Burnham to recognise racist displays as 'national emergency'

Ali says Britain is a multiracial, multicultural democracy that needs to protect “everyone’s equal right to belong.”

double quotation mark

At a time when Britain is facing unprecedented levels of racist violence and intimidation, the country needs leadership.

So I’m calling on Andy Burnham to recognise this as a national emergency.

Because this is not just a policing problem. It’s a test of whether a diverse democracy can protect the equal right of everyone to belong.

Ali: 'Can we build a country confident enough to live with difference?'

The Greens’ other deputy leader Mothin Ali is delivering his remarks now, praising the party’s growth and noting that the young greens are “the biggest youth political movement in the country.”

He says:

double quotation markPeople making the journey to the green party because they see we offer a real alternative.

He says people are looking for a different kind of politics that recognises how multicultural the UK is.

Britain is becoming more diverse, not less. Can we build a country confident enough to live with difference? To protect everyone’s equal right to belong and to make diversity work with us all.

Millward calls for immediate takeback of 'failed' water companies

She calls for national takeover of South East Water and Thames Water, without compensation for shareholders. She tells conference:

double quotation markBurnham’s 10 year plan of gentle threats and vague notions of control is not enough. Too many of our water companies have already failed.

Right here in Sussex, we too often find ourselves driving to pick up bottled water because nothing is coming out of our taps.

Not a single major reservoir has been built in this country since the beginning of privatisation 35 years ago.

And so, today, the Green Party is announcing that we would, immediately - not in 10 years, but before Christmas, bring South East Water and Thames Water back into public ownership at no cost to the tax payer.

We have all the tools we need to make it happen. Forget compensation for shareholders and creditors, these are insolvent companies.

Earlier she had laid out the issue:

double quotation mark

We see the sewage being pumped into our river by private profit making companies - and we see just how far wrong we’ve gone.

Water - the very stuff of life - uniquely found on this planet in the whole wide universe - the stuff we’re made of - it replenishes us, cleans us, connects us… and we — sold it.

Millward sketches out the scenario of “hyper scaled data centres that guzzle energy to make a mockery of climate progress.”

"I feel the despair of young people who tell me they are terrified, that they don’t want to live in a future of climate wreckage and fake everything.

Take a breath. Look around you. We love it here. We don’t want your post human reality. We want this world, the soil between our toes, the trees, that give us shelter and shade, the food we grow with our own hands, the tastes of the ground it comes from. It might seem crazy, but friends, we have all the power that we need.”

Millward’s walked out to ‘You’ve Got The Love’ by The Source blasting over the speakers.

She says the party’s membership growth has been incredible this past year – “and it’s just the beginning” – noting the campaigning by members in local races across the country.

She launches into criticism of “tech oligarchal overlords” and “the handful of men who control too much for the rest of us”.

“They are hoarding the world’s weath, polluting the planet, and now trying to buy our democracy.”

You can watch the speeches from Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali in the stream above.

We’re expecting Millward to call for the Burnham government to immediately bring water companies back into public ownership.

She’ll suggest that a “10-year plan of gentle threats and vague notions of control is not enough.” This was laid out by Burnham at Labour conference last week.

Polanski called for rent brakes to give people 'breathing space'

The Greens’ deputy leaders are due to address members on Day 2 of their conference in Brighton shortly, and we’ll have a live stream of those remarks in the top of our blog.

But yesterday, party leader Zach Polanski used his conference speech to introduce a key new policy, calling for a “three-year emergency brake on private rents”.

He called for:

double quotation mark

No rent rises above CPI wage growth or 2%, whichever is lower. No sudden hikes. No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more uncertainty, no more fear.

That emergency brake would give renters vital breathing space. Let wages begin to catch up with the rents that have outstripped them for far too long.

And in the long term, we’ll put in place a national Fair Rents Guarantee – to keep rents affordable for everyone, forever. That doesn’t just mean cheaper homes, it doesn’t just mean government savings.

It will mean that people can stay in the places they love, close to their family and friends. It will mean young people can take those first amazing, exhilarating steps into independence and have full lives waiting for them on the other side.

Young families able to live around the corner from the in-laws, not crammed into their spare room.

Anti-migrant demonstrations planned in Southampton and Dover

We can also expect anti-migrant demonstrations to be taking place on the south coast this afternoon with police on alert in Southampton and Dover.

A group called South Coast Patriots has organised the protests, and are expected to be met by counter-protesters from the local Southampton Stand Up To Racism group.

Police have issued a ban on face coverings in the area.

Farage has 'not been believed' on safety fears, says Tice

Meanwhile, Reform leaders this morning have been speaking about the fact that the man acccused of murdering former party spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe has also been charged with a terror plot against Nigel Farage.

Deputy leader Richard Tice told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme his party leader has “not been listened to” over his safety concerns.

Farage has repeatedly raised the threats against his personal security before, often in the context of justifying or explaining why he’s received significant financial donations.

Tice said: “(Farage’s) security and the risks to it, he’s talked about over over many times, many occasions, over many years.

“And I think what’s particularly upsetting for those of us in and around him is sometimes he’s not being believed, not being listened to, and you know we have just got in a sense, deep regret over everything that’s happened over a long period of time.”

Police charged Joshua Kerry, 28, with the terror plot on Friday. He already stands accused of the brutal murder of Widdecombe, 78, a former Reform representative and Tory minister, who died on 8 July at her home in Devon.

Opening summary

Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog where cost-of-living issues are top of mind as diesel surges past £2 a litre for the first time.

That’s a 40% increase since the start of the year, meaning the cost of filling up an average family car is now £110, nearly £32 more than before the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February.

The eight-months long war now has choked off key global shipping routes, blocking supplies from Gulf oil producers. On Friday, G7 countries including the UK bowed to pressure from US President Donald Trump and released 100 million barrels of oil and diesel.

But there are still spiralling ramifications on the cost of energy, food, transport and housing.

Greens leader Zack Polanski yesterday used his party conference speech yesterday to call for an emergency brake on rent rises. Party deputy leaders today will announce a policy to provide guaranteed jobs for 18-24 year olds.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, ahead of the Conservatives party conference kicking off tomorrow, will also anounce later today a childcare benefit for those on over £100,000.

Meanwhile early word of the flavour of Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget, to be delivered in a few weeks time, suggests it will be a careful one aimed giving reassurance households and businesses, with targeted assistance, as opposed to any major tax or spending hikes.

Stick with us and we’ll bring you the latest updates from the ongoing Green party conference, as well as wider political developments.