In 2007, the UK experienced a series of floods. As a result, the then Labour Government commissioned the Pitt Report (based on expert scientific evidence), which concluded that ‘climate change has the potential to cause more extreme scenarios ... severe flooding could become the norm’. As a result, the Labour government increased spending on flood defences by 10 per cent annually.

Austerity measures by George Osborne cut this, so that in the decade from 2010, it was reduced to an increase of 1.2 per cent annually. I have not seen or heard any reference to this, when government representatives are interviewed by the press.

Helen Webster, Main Street, Fulford, York