Feargal Sharkey, "Ofwat the regulator has already highlighted and confirmed. We have already paid them all of the funding they ever needed for 30 years to fix this problem. "We should be asking where our money's gone and what's happened to it and how you fix it" "Water companies... have learned they can pollute with impunity because the regulatory system simply isn't up to it and it has failed. And that's created the situation which has been exposed today" Krishnan Guru-Murthy, "But that's going to require billions of spending, isn't it?" Feargal Sharkey, "And here's the thing. We've already paid this money. The regulators confirmed it. Water companies have admitted it" Krishnan Guru-Murthy, "But it's not sitting in a bank account somewhere ready to spend it. It is" Feargal Sharkey, "The shareholders that have left those companies £60 billion in debt that have taken £72 billion of our money. They're the ones should be held accountable. Not a penny more of public money should go into these companies"show more

@Justine_F1 He has nailed the total crime that privatisation of water and all our national assets has been. Privatisation has been a total failure to address the needs of British citizens and future generations.

@HawickRemember We know where it went… Shareholders accounts. But shareholders did not make the decision to give it to them and not invest it. That decision lies firmly at the feet of the water companies. They are Guilty

Privatised with zero debt, water companies increased bills to fund investment... They also borrowed heavily to fund investment... Except, they didn't invest. Instead, the paid shareholders & gave directors vast bonuses. Now, they're loaded with debt & have no money to invest.

@PaulHawes and anyone involved in this fraud should be tried and jailed. And so should the bloody govenment that enabled this!

Privatisation has had its day. The water companies and the rest of the privatised utilities should be renationalised. For too long they have been run for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many.

Feargal Sharkey absolutely excellent tonight on Channel 4 news. Thatcher told us privatisation would bring in much needed investment!! A lesson, perhaps, before we start privatising parts of the BBC in order to obtain further investment, Tim Davie please note.

You speak truth Mr Sharkey and do us all a great service. We've already paid for the work that needs doing. This money has been stolen.

Why aren’t the directors of these utilities personally fined in these circumstances? They can be fined billions but it doesn’t affect them personally, they simply up our bills and take their bonuses and we , like sheep, pay them. Time and time again.

Thatcher sold off the water industry in 1989; the government wrote off all debts. The 9 privatised companies in England have amassed debts of £57b over the past three decades – as much as the sum paid out to shareholders. The debt costs around £1.3bn in interest annually.