Oops - 2 Yrs After Tory Secretary Axed 30% Of Flood Protection Budget, UK Rains At Record Levels
Is the environment secretary regretting the £2bn she sacrificed from her environment department's budget? In 2010, as the new coalition rolled up its sleeves, steeled its jaw and set to work on cutting the huge budget deficit, Caroline Spelman offered to axe 30% of her budget. The prime minister and chancellor didn't hesitate to accept and Defra was left nursing the biggest cut in Whitehall of any major department.
Two years on, as thousands of households bail filthy floodwater out of their living rooms, Spelman's zeal is looking more and more like foolishness. Deep cuts to flood defences have been needed to deliver the 30%, yet each new analysis shows climate change is increasing the risk of flooding, which already threatens 5m homes. That means flood defence spending has to go up as the waters rise.
Worse, we knew this already. After the devastating floods of 2007, the Pitt review concluded that spending on river and coastal defences needed to rise year after year – which they did, rising 33% between 2007 and 2010. They then fell by over 25% in the first year of the new government.
EDIT
Spelman knows the misery of having your home flooded. "I know from personal experience exactly what flooding feels like, having been flooded out of my home for 10 months. I understand the devastation that is caused to people," she told parliament in June. The sentiment was heartfelt, though the revelation prompted Labour MPs to ask to which of Spelman's four homes she was referring.
EDIT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/jul/14/caroline-spelman-cuts-flood-defences
