Thames Water creditors tap ex-Labour minister to push rescue deal

A former senior Labour cabinet minister has been named to lead the board of Thames Water should a creditor-backed rescue package for the debt-laden utility win government approval. Lord John Hutton has been put forward by the London & Valley Water consortium as independent chair designate of the board, the creditor group said on Tuesday.

Months of Talks Over Ownership

The consortium is seeking to complete a £10bn rescue of Britain’s largest water supplier, which serves 16 million customers across southern England. Creditors have spent months negotiating with ministers and regulators over who will own the company. Andy Burnham has instructed officials to discard their current plans for fixing Thames and to bring him more radical options for the struggling firm, the Guardian reported this week. Before entering Downing Street, he had pledged to nationalise Thames. The company has spent years fighting off bankruptcy and is running short of cash. It recently requested an additional £2.4bn from its creditors.

Supporting Roles Announced

The creditor group said Hutton would be backed by Mike McTighe, a telecoms and turnaround specialist who is steering Thames’s overhaul. McTighe had been proposed as the new chair in August to succeed the incumbent Sir Adrian Montague, contingent on government approval of the creditors’ takeover. He has now been appointed vice-chair designate and is expected to work closely with the management team. Hutton held the work and pensions, business and defence portfolios in Tony Blair’s and Gordon Brown’s governments, and brings experience spanning public policy, energy and infrastructure. His previous chair roles include the Nuclear Industry Association, Energy UK and manufacturing body Make UK. He has also chaired the Association of Infrastructure Investors and London Luton Airport, and served as a non-executive director of Scottish Power Energy Networks. Hutton said: “I am looking forward to being part of the new leadership at Thames Water and helping get this hugely important business into a better place. “People living in London and the Thames Valley have the right to expect the highest possible standards of customer service and proper environmental stewardship from their water company, and that will be our focus as we look to the future.”