In his first Commons address as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham acknowledged the significant challenges of renationalising the water industry, privatised in 1989. He stated that the sector has become a "leaking monument" to past political mistakes, with funding diverted to salaries and dividends while infrastructure suffered. Burnham noted that sewage discharges have damaged UK tourism and insufficient reservoir capacity has disrupted water supplies, particularly during the UK's hottest summer since records began in 1884.