Environment secretary ‘furious’ about England and Wales water bills

Steve Reed says he is unable to rule out further above-inflation rises and any decision would be up to regulators

The environment secretary, Steve Reed, has said he is furious" about an average 36% rise in water bills in England and Wales but was unable to rule out further above-inflation increases in future to fix the broken water sector.

Reed said he hoped that root and branch" reform of the industry would lead to billions of pounds more in investment, which would mean companies would never again" have to increase bills in the way they did last year.