The chairman of Thames Water says he ‘may have misspoken’ when he told MPs the firm’s lenders ‘insisted’ on top bosses receiving large bonuses.

In a letter, Sir Adrian Montague says creditors ‘agreed to’ rather than ‘insisted upon’ the payments linked to a rescue loan of up to three-billion pounds.

The so-called ‘retention incentives’ could see execs get one-million pounds on top of their salary and bonus.