Flooding Debate

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Kerry McCarthy

Main Page: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)

Flooding

Kerry McCarthy Excerpts
Monday 10th February 2014

(10 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Pickles Portrait Mr Pickles
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We are offering extra assistance, and we will continue to do so. I think that we must accept, because of the nature of the weather, that we will see exceptional turbulence and disruption to transport in the region. Obviously we need to repair the rail system and make it safe, but we also need to provide alternative ways of getting about, which is why we have laid on extra coaches and the like. Once it stops raining, Devon will be a terrific place to visit, and a terrific place in which to set up a business.

Kerry McCarthy Portrait Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
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Obviously the immediate priority has got to be to help the people in Somerset and elsewhere who are living in an absolutely desperate situation at the moment, but in the longer term—and following on from the very interesting answer the Secretary of State gave to the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames)—how will the Government use the common agricultural policy direct payments budget and the Environment Agency’s maintenance budget to ensure long-term flood protection and to look at things like land management issues?

Lord Pickles Portrait Mr Pickles
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I cannot tell the hon. Lady when the consultation finishes, but we are in the middle of the process of doing exactly that. If the hon. Lady wants to make a contribution she could write to the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall, and that will be taken into consideration in the review and consultation.