ENVIRONMENT Secretary Steve Reed stands accused of making “inaccurate and misleading” remarks about Scottish Water to justify leaving England’s water supplies to the mercy of the market.

He came under fire after claiming that under publicly owned Scottish Water “pollution levels in Scotland are worse than they are in England” as a reason to dismiss calls to renationalise the debt-ridden industry.

Now, citing a new Independent Water Commission report finding that two thirds of Scotland’s water bodies have good ecological status, compared with 16.1 per cent in England, Scottish climate action and energy secretary Gillian Martin has written to Mr Reed to demand a public apology.

Accusing Mr Reed of seeking to “undermine the idea of public ownership,” she wrote: “It is the very fact of that public ownership and control which has allowed us to keep water bills lower for people, compared to what people with privatised water supplies in England have to pay.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responded: “This is absolute rubbish.

“Scotland has more pollution incidents than England for every mile of sewer — and Scotland’s monitoring of its water network is significantly worse.”