Flooding: Somerset

Lord Pearson of Rannoch Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

I certainly do not disagree with that myself, my Lords. The noble Lord makes a really important point. Not only should we adapt to it, which is the substance of what we are talking about today, but we need to mitigate it as well.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

My Lords—

[Lord King of Bridgwater (Con)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord De Mauley]

I agree, my Lords. It is very important that we focus on the job in hand. The Prime Minister has asked the Minister for Government Policy to undertake an exercise to see what lessons can be learnt from our response to this extreme bad run of bad weather.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords, to what extent has the Environment Agency’s action or inaction, particularly in the Somerset Levels, been influenced or dictated by Brussels? For instance, was the dredging of any water courses prevented by the EU and, if so, why?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, in a time of a great tragedy for people down on the Somerset moors, it is a shame to seek to place recriminations. We should be getting on with the job in hand.