Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, said:

“With water levels rising and thousands of homes at risk, it is unbelievable that Ministers have embarked on an internal blame game instead of focusing on helping the communities affected by the floods.

"The fact is that David Cameron approved a reckless slashing of Britain’s flood defence capacity after the election, and the Environment Secretary has repeatedly ignored warnings from experts that a failure to dredge had left the Somerset Levels vulnerable to extreme flooding. Instead of blaming officials for their decisions and now turning on each other like ferrets in a sack, Ministers must get a grip on this worsening situation.”