TRADE unionists protested outside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) today against the “failed experiment” of water privatisation, demanding the service be renationalised.

Members of the GMB union protested outside Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s offices ahead of the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation of British water supplies on July 6 1989.

The nine largest water companies in the country made a record sum of over £6.8 billion since 2014, GMB researchers revealed this week.