Letters
Root stumped
letters@private-eye.co.uk
Sir,
Yorkshire Water claimed my report showed “a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the water industry is regulated” (“Root of the problem”, p38 Eye, 1649). Indeed there were many things I couldn’t understand, for instance, how any of the following transactions benefited Yorkshire’s customers or the long term interests of Yorkshire Water Services Limited (YWS): borrowing to pay a £200m dividend within days of privatisation; borrowing to pay £826m in dividends in 2007, more than that year’s turnover; borrowing £2.25bn to buy YWS and putting this debt on the balance sheet of the acquiring company, just like Macquarie did when it bought Thames Water; borrowing a further £1.3bn from YWS by 2012 to pay off interest and capital on the above debt, just like Macquarie did; by 2024, they extracted £4.3bn in dividends net of all capital contributions since privatisation while reducing share capital since 2009 to a mere £11m; racking up £5.3bn net debt by 2024 when YWS had enough cash from customer bills to pay for all operational expenditure, taxes and capital expenditure and still have £3.5bn to spare.
Perhaps Yorkshire Water’s millions of customers understand how the water industry is regulated, and therefore see the benefits clearly. But I, for one, am stumped.
STANLEY ROOT, Retired auditor, Oxford.
“Beginners’ courses? Don’t get me started on beginners’ courses!”
Leonardo Fib-onacci
Sir,
Thank you for covering the prime minister’s trip to Leonardo (“After Leonardo”, p12, Eye 1649). It’s worth noting that it’s not only the Vatican who have distanced themselves from the arms manufacturers, but also Luton council, where the site Starmer visited is based.
Despite the council being Labour-controlled and the town having two Labour MPs, Number 10 completely ignored how unpopular Leonardo is locally, leading to the council cutting off relations with the company over the last 18 months following public and political pressure. Great to see the effort Number 10 is making to connect to the local party!