SOUTH West Water (SWW) has been labelled as possibly the ‘worst water company’ in the country by West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger.

He said the company overpaid its top team, dumped sewage into rivers, failed to invest in new reservoirs, and yet wanted to be treated like ‘a paragon of excellence’.

Mr Liddell-Grainger made his remarks in a wide-ranging House of Commons speech on the Government’s Levelling Up agenda.

Later, he said SWW's failure to respond to his criticism was effectively acknowledging its 'massive failures'.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said: “I regard the absence of any rebuttal as evidence that I got it absolutely right: SWW is a failure on so many counts and it has not even got the guts to try to defend itself in the public arena.”

The company was already facing two serious Ofwat watchdog inquiries centred on the management of its treatment works and figures it provided last year for consumer water use.

Its chief executive, Susan Davy, also announced she would not be taking her £450,000 bonus this year.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said consumers who were paying large water bills in return for being placed under drought restrictions would not be surprised by the company’s silence.

He said: “It has been caught shovelling huge sums of money into shareholders’ and directors’ pockets while neglecting its fundamental duties of ensuring beaches and rivers are clean and safe and that there is enough water to go round for everyone.

“Of course, it has every right to remain silent.

"But I have every right to raise its performance in Parliament again, and I shall be making every effort to do so at every opportunity.”