Companies in England and Wales get green light for extra spending that will add billions to bills

Andy Burnham has said he is angry with water companies for treating their customers as a “bottomless source of funding” after more than a dozen firms were given the green light to raise bills even higher.

The prime minister said the companies must not be allowed to treat bill payers like a “blank cheque”, after Ofwat, the regulator, approved proposals for billions of pounds of spending on repairs and infrastructure.