— ‘The prime minister is under pressure to go further, for example by stripping Thames of its licence, pushing for it to go into SAR immediately and then taking it out of administration without offering anything to the existing creditors.
Such a plan will inevitably be challenged in court, but Burnham is understood to be more willing to take on legal action than Starmer was. One adviser said: “Litigation was always a 100% certainty.”
…
Ewan McGaughey, a professor in law at King’s College, London, said: “The government’s best option is to start a special administration process for Thames Water before it runs up more debts, and sends billions more overseas.
“An orderly transition to public ownership does not require that banks in control are bailed out – on the contrary, the law says polluters should pay.”‘