FLOODING in York and the Foss Barrier's failings have been fiercely debated by David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn in Parliament.


The Prime Minister was quizzed by the Leader of the Opposition after the city's flood defences struggled to cope with immense levels of water over Christmas.


Mr Corbyn, who visited York on New Year's Eve, claimed too many schemes to protect cities from flooding had been cut, leaving residents at risk.


He said: "A young couple lost many of their possessions, photos, children's toys, schoolwork and they have the foul stench of floodwater in their homes, as many families have all over this country.


"They are asking of us wholly legitimate questions, why was it the insufficient pump capacity of the Foss Barrier, again alerted to in 2013 by a Government report, was not dealt with and those pumps were not upgraded, thus those people were flooded in York and their possessions and homes severely damaged?


"The reality is that flood defence scheme after flood defence scheme has been cancelled, ignored or cut."


Mr Cameron also visited the city and says the Government intends to introduce groundbreaking plans to help flood victims.


"On the Foss pumps, that was about to be tended for extra investment and that investment will now go ahead because that money is now there," he said.


"What I will say to him is we are putting in the money, we are putting it in more quickly, the military got involved more quickly, and to that couple who got flooded, we are doing something that previous Governments have talked about but no Government has achieved.


"We are having an insurance scheme so every single household in this country can get insured."