Sir Keir Starmer has called for ‘personal responsibility from the top” at water companies following the publication yesterday of Ofwat’s draft determinations for the AMP8 business plans for 2025-30.

The Prime Minister was commenting during his trip to the Nato summit in Washington DC where he described the situation around the water sector as having got “completely out of hand”.

Speaking to LBC during the Nato summit in Washington DC, the Prime Minister said:

“We’ve seen a lot of coverage of the sewage and the pollution which we’ve got to get to grips with.”

The PM said the Government would ‘get to grips’ with water firms, adding that the industry has got ‘completely out of hand’.

In response to a question by the news broadcaster of whether it was unfair for Thames Water to increase bills and whether he was prepared to nationalise the heavily indebted water company, he commented:

“I don’t want bills to be so punishing for people.

“So we will have a plan to get to grips with that in terms of governance of water, but that requires us to deal with both the pollution and the bills side of it.

“That doesn’t involve nationalisation, but it does involve making sure the regulations we have are properly enforced, looking at possible further regulation, and something I’m very keen on, which is to have sort of personal responsibility from the top.

“I know from running a big organisation that when there’s personal responsibility at the top it does rather focus the mind.”

Yesterday Environment Secretary Steve Reed announced a series of initial steps towards ending the crisis in the water sector.

The new measures were described as representing a step change after “years of failure to ensure the water industry cuts illegal sewage dumping and attracts major private-sector investment to upgrade infrastructure while prioritising the interests of customers and the environment.”

Steve Reed "proposed increases to water bills are the unacceptable result of years of failure"

Following what he described as “extensive talks” with water company chiefs yesterday, Steve Reed said:

"I made clear that the proposed increases to water bills are the unacceptable result of years of failure. Too much money was spent on bonuses and not enough on fixing the broken sewage system. This will never happen again.

Water bosses have signed up to my initial package of reforms.

Funding for vital infrastructure will be ringfenced, meaning it will only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment.

If money earmarked for investment is not spent companies will refund it to customers.

It won’t be diverted for bonuses or dividends.

For the first time in history, powerful customer panels will have the power to summon board members so they can hold water company bosses to account.

These are just the first steps in my plan to reform the water sector.

For too long, water companies have let the public down – that will now change."

Water UK - “We will work with Government to implement these reforms as quickly as possible

On behalf of the English water companies, David Henderson, Water UK Chief Executive, said:

“We welcome today’s swift action by the Secretary of State. Companies have agreed to his direction that, in addition to turbocharging investment, they put customers and the environment at the core of how they operate.

“We will work with Government to implement these reforms as quickly as possible and deliver our largest-ever investment plan to secure our water supplies, end sewage in rivers and enable economic growth.”