There’s no Magic Money Tree, Theresa May famously told nurses desperate for a pay rise in 2017. But the ex-prime minister failed to mention that there is a Magic Money Stream – along which billions of pounds flow from privatised UK firms to the global elite.
Take England’s water companies, which have paid out £18.9bn in dividends since 2010, including £1.1bn in the past year, to shareholders across the globe.
Among those profiting off the firms – which this week left beaches across England strewn in sewage – are Bermuda-registered investment house Lazards, China and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, and Malaysian corporation YTL.
