Environment Agency chair Alan Lovell acknowledged the numerous "financial pressures" on farmers, including difficulty accessing government cash. He also called water companies "appalling" for their sewage discharges.

The chair of the environment watchdog has ordered farmers to clean up their act on river pollution, telling them it is time to “take their medicine”.

Alan Lovell, chair of the Environment Agency for England, told the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on Tuesday that pollution from agriculture and rural land is “roughly equal [to] that coming from the water industry”.

Mr Lovell told the annual NFU conference: “Let’s clear out these pollution incidents and do it better.”