Andy Burnham has told officials to rip up their plans for how to fix Thames Water and present him with more radical options for what to do with the stricken company. Here are some ideas the prime minister is being urged to consider.

Emergency legislation

Burnham must introduce emergency legislation immediately to protect the supply of water for the public, said Richard Murphy, tax accountant and the brains behind Corbynomics.

A new state-owned company, with a management team in waiting and all the necessary steps ready to take over the existing company's systems, has to be put in place now.

“A prime minister who cannot deliver water to maybe a quarter of the UK's population would not be someone to be trusted with anything else. Andy Burnham has no choice but to address this matter, now,” said Murphy.

The 1971 nationalisation of the Rolls-Royce aeronautical engineering company, to protect the national interest after it collapsed into receivership, could be used as a blueprint. A similar national emergency exists now to protect the supply of water, Murphy said.

Murphy said that, in essence, Thames Water was financially insolvent, with real doubt about whether it could survive into 2027. It was failing in its regulatory obligations, including to maintain clean water supplies and keep rivers and beaches clean.

Emergency legislation should ensure that the nationalisation is of the assets and undertakings of Thames Water, and not of the company itself. All financial liabilities of Thames Water would be left for the old company to settle. The government should not acquire them.

The new company needed to be structured within days, said Murphy. “There is no time to wait.”

Yesterday's blog on this issue seems to have been noticed. Read the whole blog to fill in the details on what I had to say.