Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and Labour candidate in the upcoming Makerfield by-election, has called for Thames Water (England's largest water provider, serving roughly a quarter of the population) to be taken into public ownership, saying nationalisation is "what should be done." Thames Water is on the verge of financial collapse after successive private equity owners accumulated around £20 billion in debt, and the UK government is currently weighing whether to place it into special administration or accept a creditor deal that could see the company partly controlled by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer. Burnham, who is positioning himself for a potential Labour leadership race, argued that the water industry has long been run "in the private interest rather than the public interest" and also proposed banning bill increases by cancelling dividends for companies that raise prices above a set threshold.