Back in July I wrote about the decision by Government to lay draft “Flood Re” (Flood Re-insurance) before Parliament that included domestic properties but excluded small firms.

In the last weeks these concerns met an horrific reality as many parts of the county and northern regions were devastated by the terrible floods.

Colleagues in Lancashire and Cumbria as well as the team in North Yorkshire have spent much time visiting members.

Regional chairman Gary Lovatt visiting Keswick and Kendall said: "The terrible floods that have hit parts of Lancashire and Cumbria will take a long time to recover from.

"The FSB has many members who have been seriously affected either in their homes or their business and we are offering them advice and support to help them to deal with the immediate aftermath and then attempt to get back to normality as soon as possible."

As I highlighted in July without a Flood Re Solution, there is nothing in place to protect the smallest of businesses, which are the most vulnerable.

This has now proved all too evident as Paul Highlights "There are short, medium and long-term activities that individual businesses and authorities need to be considering to firstly get communities back on their feet, and secondly try to improve defences.

"Short term priorities are making homes and businesses safe and habitable again, and accessing insurance monies and government grants to support this.

"In the medium and long term we need to see a multi-agency approach and possibly better awareness and advice ahead of this kind of occurrence. It is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight but perhaps stronger warnings should have gone out to at least enable people in the most vulnerable areas to remove valuable goods from lower ground and take other practical steps.”

However to ensure business can recover and create a sustainable economy, once these short and medium term priorities have been met, I am clear we need a long-term flood re solution in place, that would ensure the availability of affordable and comprehensive flood insurance for small businesses,

I and my regional colleagues will continue to support affected members whilst working with Westminster’s colleagues to ask Ministers to look again a dedicated small business flood re agreement. If they don’t the effects of floods such as last week will last longer and hurt more than most of us can fear to imagine.