# Bring water back into public hands

> “So we’d fix this – ending the scandal of shareholder profit and bringing water back into public hands, so every penny we pay goes into making the service better.”
>
> — Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Green Party of England and Wales; Speech to the New Economics Foundation, 18 March 2026

- **Status:** Promised
- **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered
- **Policy area:** [Housing & environment](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/housing-and-environment)
- **Speaker:** [Zack Polanski](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/zack-polanski), Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
- **Party:** [Green Party of England and Wales](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/green-party)
- **Made on:** 18 March 2026
- **Where:** Speech to the New Economics Foundation
- **Cost a year:** No costing published
- **Who it affects:** Water bill payers, and the shareholders of the private water companies
- **When:** Not stated
- **Paid for by:** Not stated when it was announced
- **Quote source:** https://greenparty.org.uk/2026/03/18/zack-polanski-lays-out-plans-to-back-the-caring-majority-in-major-speech/ (checked word for word at its source on 20 October 2026; Quoted for reporting; rights stay with the publisher)
- **Last updated:** 20 October 2026
- **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-green-water-public-ownership-2026

## Where it stands

The Green Party is not in government, so the card stays at Promised. In the same speech he said nearly a third of the typical water bill in England goes to shareholder returns and debt servicing, and called for an end to private ownership of water. He did not say how the companies would be brought into public hands, what it would cost or by when. He repeated the plan to nationalise water in his conference speech on 2 October 2026.

## Timeline

- 18 March 2026, Promised: Zack Polanski pledges to bring water back into public hands in a speech to the New Economics Foundation

## About the cost

No cost was given in the cited sources.

## Sources

- [Green Party: Zack Polanski lays out plans to back the "caring majority" in major speech (18 Mar 2026)](https://greenparty.org.uk/2026/03/18/zack-polanski-lays-out-plans-to-back-the-caring-majority-in-major-speech/)
- [Green Party: Zack Polanski's speech to conference in full (2 Oct 2026)](https://greenparty.org.uk/2026/10/02/zack-polanskis-speech-to-conference-in-full/)

## Checks

- Checked automatically by AI Journalist, not yet verified by an editor.
- Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 20 October 2026.

---

LedgerGov.UK's own writing (headlines, status notes, cost notes, summaries) is licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse it, crediting LedgerGov.UK with a link to the card. Official figures are under the [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) unless their source says otherwise; quotes from Parliament under the [Open Parliament Licence v3.0](https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright-parliament/open-parliament-licence/); other quotes are short extracts whose rights stay with the speaker. How the numbers and statuses are made: https://ledgergov.uk/method.