YP Comment: Flooding U-turn is drop in ocean

This volte-face came just seven days after the city’s MPs were left aghast – and astonished – that they might have to wait up to six years for this £3m fund because the flooding budget had been fixed and that Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss had no contingency funding at her disposal.

Belatedly, the Government recognised that its position was indefensible in the wake of intense lobbying by politicians, campaigners and this newspaper – it was, after all, the coalition which pulled the plug on a preventative scheme in 2011 that had been drawn up following the floods of four years previously – and there was a marked change in tone when Rory Stewart, the Floods Minister and a deputy to the aforementioned Ms Truss, made the announcement to Parliament.

Not only was the former diplomat more consensual and conciliatory than his Ministerial colleagues, but he recognised that the economy of Leeds is worth £54bn a year and a “Northern Powerhouse requires a great northern city” and that the the whole Aire catchement area will need to be included if the scheme is to work.

With Ms Truss visiting Yorkshire to confirm a new flood plan for the Calder Valley, and David Cameron launching a new initiative to boost tourism in flood-hit communities, there is a slight sense that Ministers are realising – belatedly – that they have betrayed the North with their short-sightedness, and those previous decisions which have so favoured the Home Counties. However these commitments amount to just a drop in the proverbial ocean. That nearly two-thirds of respondents remain critical of the Government’s handling of the floods, according to a poll by YouGov, proves that Ministers have their work cut out on a range of issues, not least the funding of flood defences and insurance, if they’re to regain the trust of victims – and all those whose homes are at risk. Their plight must not, and will not, be ignored.