CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves is right to say that steep increases in our water bills are a “bitter pill to swallow” — especially since her government could stop them if it wanted to.

Maybe its reluctance to take the obvious step — nationalisation — is linked to the lucrative rewards waiting for former ministers who play ball. After all, Water UK, the trade association lobbying for still steeper rises, is headed by former Labour minister Ruth Kelly.

Water UK slams Ofwat’s refusal to endorse its own proposed increases as “the biggest-ever cut in investment.”