MPs urge government to improve defence funding over floods

MPs from areas affected by the floods have called on the UK government to increase the funding available for flood defences and emergency response units, the Guardian reported on Monday.

Politicians were demanding an overhaul of the system that decides where flood aid goes.

Leaders from northern areas told the newspaper that the government needs to establish a “Cobra for the north” and that there is a need for "multimillion-pound investment" for flood defences to avoid a "catastrophe of the same scale" happening again.

Dan Jarvis, mayor of the Sheffield City Region said that the government needs to invest more in a Cobra that will provide an immediate response to natural emergencies such as floods.

Over the weekend, 90 properties flooded in the South East and in Devon and Cornwall, according to the Environment Agency (EA).

The agency has said that an average of £1.0bn a year will need to be invested in flood defences as well as a broader programme to make all infrastructure flood resilient by 2050.

The Conservative party pledged in its manifesto to spend £4.0bn over the next five years on a new flood defence programme.

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokeswoman said: "Recent flooding in Yorkshire had terrible consequences for people and businesses.

"This is why we are investing record amounts to help protect communities across the nation from the threat of flooding, using both natural flood management techniques and traditional defences.

"We spend money where it is needed most - with similar funding heading to high-risk areas across both the North and South of England."