YP Comment: New farce over EU flood funds: Where is our missing money?

THE context to the growing political row about Yorkshire's missing flooding funds is critical.
Mountain rescue teams in a flooded York street in December 2015.Mountain rescue teams in a flooded York street in December 2015.
Mountain rescue teams in a flooded York street in December 2015.

When Britain leaves the European Union, these disagreements will be redundant because the UK will no longer be in a position to apply for repair grants and the Government will have to foot the bill when properties are submerged in future.

Yet this does not excuse – or justify – the many mistakes made by David Cameron’s then government which are, frankly, an insult to all those whose lives, and livelihoods, were ruined by the winter floods of 2015-2016. Initially reluctant to apply for grants – the Prime Minister claimed the process was too time-consuming – one third of the £50m sought was used to repay Brussels money spent in the aftermath of the 2007 floods because the precise expenditure did not tally with the EU’s rules.

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Not only do current Ministers fail to explain why this money was not repaid at the time, it now emerges that as much as £2.5m of public money could have been spent on administration work allied to the most recent EU funding application. No wonder there are MPs like Halifax’s Holly Lynch, whose constituency was badly hit by the floods in the Calder Valley, who now want to see detailed accounts for every last penny.

Irrespective of Brexit, this is public money and its apparent misuse and mismanagement speaks volumes about Mr Cameron’s cavalier approach at the time when he was guilty of putting public relations ‘spin’ before practical action to help those devastated towns and villages in the Calder Valley, and elsewhere, that he promised to help as long as ago as the floods of 2012.

If there’s an object lesson in how not to respond to floods and their aftermath, this is it. As such, it can only be hoped that Theresa May’s Ministers take note that it has taken up to 15 months to reopen some businesses in Leeds, where a shortage of funds saw the city’s planned flood defences scaled back. How ironic.

Syria desperation

AS always, Britain’s response to the despicable nerve gas attack in Syria, just the latest slaughter of young innocents, could not have been more sincere. Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, said “history will judge” the international community’s response, while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, the co-host of a special summit at the EU, called for a unified humanitarian approach and political solution to this stain on the global conscience.

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Wise words by both – but there’s a catch. Economic sanctions have been proven not to work, President Bashir Assad’s regime remains deaf to the world’s condemnation of such abhorrent acts, while there remains little appetite for Britain intensifying its military action after Parliament endorsed extended RAF air strikes to Islamic State targets.

With Downing Street insisting “nobody is talking” about an armed response to the latest atrocity, the civilised world appears to be running out of meaningful options as the death toll increases by the hour.

With Russia’s involvement in the conflict complicating matters still further, and the stance of President Donald Trump another ‘known unknown’ to paraphrase former US secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld, the need for international leadership – and dialogue – has never been greater or more urgent. Is there any diplomat remotely capable of bringing hope to the Syrians crying for help because they remain trapped in a hell-hole that they have to call home?

Sports perspective

WHEN it comes to contemporary commentary on sporting events, including rugby league, words like ‘bravery’ and ‘courage’ invariably feature. Yet these attributes do a disservice to those competitors whose deeds transcend sport; heroes 
like Hull FC’s Jack Harrison 
who was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his valour when he led his troops into no man’s land during the First World War a century ago.

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However the Army officer, who volunteered to serve his country shortly after the birth of his son, has not been forgotten and the special commemorative events now being planned in Hull are testimony to the special bond that exists between sporting clubs and the military. For, while some regard sport as being more important than life and death, the Bill Shankly parable, the self-sacrifice of Lt Harrison – and his comrades – puts any grievances about a lost match, or poor decision, into perspective.

They’re trivial in comparison to the price paid by those soldiers who remain, to this day, the true personification of courage.