Green Party deputy leader says party would nationalise two water firms without compensation

The Green Party's deputy leader, Rachel Millward, told the party's conference in Brighton that a Green government would nationalise Thames Water and South East Water without paying compensation to shareholders or creditors. She argued that the two companies should be treated as insolvent, saying there should be no compensation for their investors.

The comments were part of a wider set of policy statements delivered at the conference, where party figures set out positions ahead of debates on the conference floor. Water company ownership and performance have remained a contentious issue in UK politics, with public scrutiny particularly focused on Thames Water's financial position in recent years.

Other conference remarks on multiculturalism

Separately at the same conference, another party figure, identified as Ali, described Britain as a multiracial, multicultural democracy that needs to protect what she called everyone's equal right to belong. She said that amid what she characterised as unprecedented levels of racist violence and intimidation, the country needs leadership, and she called on Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to recognise the situation as a national emergency, framing it as a test of whether a diverse democracy can protect that equal right to belong.

Both sets of remarks were delivered as part of the Green Party's ongoing conference proceedings in Brighton, where delegates are debating a range of policy positions.