Taxpayer cash must not be used to bail out Thames Water, says Feargal Sharkey

Campaigner says firm should be brought under public control using powers in original privatisation legislation

Crisis-ridden Thames Water must not receive a penny of public money in a bailout as it faces rising costs on 14bn of debt, the water campaigner Feargal Sharkey has said.

Sharkey, who has been crucial in raising public consciousness about the way privatised water companies are run, said he did not believe anyone in the UK would support using taxpayers' money to prop up the company.