Watch the moment Feargal Sharkey OBE bursts out laughing on GB News as he is presented with some of the key components of Labour’s radical bid to overhaul the water industry.
Sharkey became a household name in Britain as The Undertones’ lead vocalist, but has become synonymous with environmental causes in recent years.
Please write at He joined Dawn Neesom and Charlie Peters on GB News to discuss the Government’s plan to scrap water regulator Ofwat in a bid to fix the “broken” system.
Sharkey made it clear he feels the Government needs to go much further in its efforts during his appearance on the People’s Channel. 2 paragraphs
GB NEWS / PA
|Sharkey was left in hysterics
“You cannot talk about abolishing Ofwat without also adding the Environment Agency to that list”, he said.
“They jointly have regulated this industry for 35 years. They have both failed.”
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Charlie Peters said there is “plenty of disagreement” across the political spectrum on the matter but the Tories “cautiously welcomed” the findings of a major review into England and Wales’ troubled water sector.
This prompted Sharkey to erupt into laughter, saying his “brain has moved into an episode of Yes, Minister”.
PA | Envrionment Secretary Steve Reed has confirmed Ofwat will be abolished Charlie said the Government has claimed the new regulator will go about correcting the “abuses of the past”, a point vehemently denied by Sharkey.
“No it won’t”, he argued. “Ofwat and the Environment Agency have all the power and authority they could possibly want. Both organisations are dysfunctional.
“It transpires it is the Environment Secretary who appoints the board for both, he could have removed them in a heartbeat.
“It is also the Environment Secretary who issues the statutory guidance that both those organisations have to have regard to and get out there proactively enforce the law as it stands. None of that is happening.”
GB NEWS
|Sharkey joined Dawn Neesom and Charlie Peters on GB News
He added: “Thames Water is going to nationalise itself, whether people like it or not and I can think of four or five other companies that are not that far behind.
“This industry could nationalise half of itself by the end of the year anyway. This myth that it could cost £100 million to nationalise the industry, I am flabbergasted the ministry is repeating this.
“That number comes from a report written by a think-tank bought and paid for by four water companies. The number is completely mythical.”
Contamination remains at unprecedented levels in England’s waterways and it has prompted Environment Secretary Steve Reed into action with a radical set of measures.
In a speech earlier today, the minister emphasised that current regulatory arrangements have enabled these deteriorating conditions, necessitating fundamental restructuring to ensure "the failures of the past can never happen again."
Public confidence in water companies has plummeted to unprecedented depths, with Consumer Council for Water research from May revealing that fewer than two-thirds of customers believe they receive adequate value.
Just 53 per cent of respondents considered charges reasonable, even before April's 26 per cent tariff increases took effect.