THAMES WATER will be a clear test of Andy Burnham’s promises of greater public control, campaigners have warned as MPs prepare to stage a protest in London today.

Politicians and activists are set to meet near the river Thames to demand the incoming prime minister place the debt-ridden firm in special administration.

They will hold up signs near the Battle of Britain Monument at the Victoria Embankment reminding the government that their constituencies say “NO to Thames water creditors” and “special administration NOW for Thames Water.”

Participating parliamentarians have already backed a call signed by 109 MPs demanding the Environment Secretary and regulator Ofwat take the utility back under state control. The letter argues that, with a debt pile of nearly £20 billion, Thames Water is on the brink of collapse.

Meanwhile the company’s US hedge-fund creditors have been locked in negotiations with the regulator Ofwat to formally take over Thames Water.

The proposed deal would waive fines for the firm until 2030, despite it being responsible for almost a third of all of the industry’s most harmful pollution incidents in 2025. It would also suspend or “significantly” modify pollution and performance targets and could mean raising bills for households.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds came out against a £10bn rescue bid, saying it poses an “unfair cost to consumers” but the deal has yet to be rejected by the water regulator.

Former Manchester mayor Mr Burnham has said the utility “should” be nationalised and put forward a 10-year plan for the entire industry to be brought into public ownership.  

We Own It lead campaigner Sophie Conquest said: “Andy Burnham has promised to secure greater public control of life’s essentials. There is no clearer test of whether [he] will keep that promise than what happens next to Thames Water.”

Ahead of the protest, she said the government and Ofwat sit at “a crossroads” over choosing to “line the pockets of US hedge funds with our money” or to “put households and the environment first.”

Ms Conquest added that special administration would allow the government to “slash the debts” by securing a better deal for the public purse.

“This is a decision which will affect every single household in England. Signing off on this deal would be to sign off on a whole new low in standards across the water sector,” she said.