The Environment Secretary has rejected that free football tickets he received had any significant link to a failing water company.

Steve Reed was asked about accepting tickets from Hutchison 3G UK, which shares a parent company with Northumbrian Water.

He said he was not aware that the company he accepted tickets from had any link to a UK water firm.

“There was nobody from a water company that was involved in offering those tickets. There was nobody from a water company at that event,” Mr Reed told Sky News.

He said there were “no conversations about water” at the event.

Asked later on ITV about the tickets, he said that “your inference as well as your facts, I’m afraid, are wrong”.

“It was a telecoms company called Three. They’re not a water company. They’re a telecoms company.

“It was declared openly and transparently, and if your inference is that by … taking tickets from a telecoms company, it’s weakened my resolve on water, just look at my record.

“I had them in my office seven days after the election.

“I got the toughest action that any Secretary of State has ever taken against the water companies going through right now, making them face personal criminal liability and banning their bonuses.

“And I’m launching a commission today to reset the sector entirely so your inference as well as your facts, I’m afraid, are wrong.”

Mr Reed’s published declarations show he received a ticket to a Chelsea v Crystal Palace match with hospitality worth a combined £1,786 in December 2023.

Those were provided by Hutchison 3G UK Limited, a subsidiary of Hong-Kong based CK Hutchison Holdings Limited.

Northumbrian Water Group’s ultimate parent company is CK Hutchison Holdings via two other intermediate holding companies.

Ofwat chief executive David Black earlier this year called Northumbrian and two other firms’ records of polluting rivers and waterways “a catalogue of failure”.