Residents across Hampshire will face a near 50 per cent increase in their bills over the next five years.

Southern Water has been given permission to increase bills by 44 per cent – or £183.

The increase was approved by regulator Ofwat on Thursday.

But water companies had wanted to increase bills higher than the increase they were allowed.

The average increase across the country, of £19 a year, is a third less than the companies had requested.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called for more “personal responsibility” at the top of the water industry.

Asked whether it was unfair if heavily indebted Thames Water tried to hike bills again and whether he was prepared to nationalise the firm if it went bust, Sir Keir said: “I don’t want bills to be so punishing for people.

“So we will have a plan to get to grips with that in terms of governance of water, but that requires us to deal with both the pollution and the bills side of it.”

The proposed bill increases come amid public fury around firms’ polluting of waterways with sewage spills as they continue to hand dividends to shareholders, and bonuses to executives – something which Labour has pledged to clamp down on.

Sewage spills into England’s rivers and seas more than doubled in 2023.