Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, responding to the Committee on Climate Change’s report on flood risk management spending, said:

“Yet again the Government has been caught out fiddling the figures on flood protection funding. Last week, the Department for the Environment was forced to publish updated figures that disproved David Cameron’s claims that he has overseen an increase in funding to prevent flooding. The Government’s independent advisory body on climate change has now stated very clearly that there has been a significant fall in spending. More seriously, they have revealed that Ministers are including in their figures money allocated to local authorities that is not actually being spent on flood protection.

“This damning report from the Committee on Climate Change reveals that the consequences of David Cameron’s failure to prioritise flood protection could see around 250,000 more households becoming exposed to a significant risk of flooding in the future. Instead of trying to find new ways to cover up for his reckless and short-sighted decisions, David Cameron should get on with completing the review into funding for flood protection that he was forced to commit to under pressure from Ed Miliband at Prime Minister’s Questions.”