Flood response is now farcical

Yes, Mr Jordan is right to highlight those areas where flood defences have held – but he, and his unapologetic chairman Lord Smith, need to accept that their decision-making has exacerbated this crisis as homes on the flooded Somerset Levels and storm-hit South West brace themselves for the next deluge.

It is also clear that lessons have not been learned from the Yorkshire floods of 2007 when officials were slow to respond.

It also became clear last night that the recriminations were becoming political – Communities Secretary Eric Pickles could not conceal his contempt for Lord Smith; Labour’s Hilary Benn, a former Environment Secretary, blamed the Tories for cuts to the Environment Agency’s budget while Ukip leader Nigel Farage demanded a public inquiry, and money to be diverted from the overseas aid budget, before beginning his fact-finding tour of the stricken area.

However this blame game, and the now heated debate about whether climate change is a factor or not, should not deflect attention away from the need to dredge rivers – significantly Mr Pickles did apologise for this failure yesterday before taking another side-swipe at the Environment Agency – and the need to make Britain more flood-resilient.

Yet this will not happen when there appears to be such little co-ordination between Downing Street, Defra, the Environment Agency, the privatised water companies and the relevant local authorities.

At various points, they have all been found wanting and been put to shame by those farmers who have been proved right on the importance of dredging – and those members of the emergency services, Armed Forces and volunteers with wheelbarrows whose response has gone beyond the call of duty.

While these efforts do constitute a success in the true meaning of the word, the same cannot be said of those public servants who have failed so many people.

Downfall of Immigration Minister

THE contemptible Lord Smith’s decision to cling onto the chairmanship of the Environment Agency contrasts sharply with Immigration Minister Mark Harper’s swift resignation after it emerged that his employment of a Colombian cleaner was in breach of the new responsibilities for employers that he was introducing in Parliament.

To be fair to Mr Harper, he does deserve credit for resigning swiftly unlike those politicians who invariably leave themselves open to ridicule when they try to ride out such storms. However this honourable resignation should not diminish from its seriousness – or the depressing double standards at its core.

In one of the more absurd abuses of the Parliamentary expenses system, Mr Harper claimed hundreds of pounds of public money to pay his cleaner to look after his London flat – conduct that can only be described as the height of arrogance.

Then there is the fact that the same Mr Harper was the Minister who instigated the ‘Go Home’ vans that targeted illegal workers.

And then there is the complexity of the checks that the Government expects landlords, employers, bankers and others to verify.

If it is possible to dupe a Minister of the Crown with apparent ease, it does not say much about the supposed infallibility of this scheme.

In one regard, this case has highlighted the importance of the planned restrictions. Yet, conversely, it appears to be the Government’s intention to make employers and others liable for serial failings in immigration policy.

Road and rail key to tourism drive

THE timeless appeal of Scarborough is the reason why the town is rightly regarded by many as the jewel in Yorkshire’s crown.

However it cannot afford to let time stand still if resorts along Yorkshire’s coast are to attract sufficient visitors in the future and this is reflected by a new blueprint to grow the area’s tourism industry and create 3,000 much-needed jobs over the coming decade.

Yet this strategy will not fulfil its potential unless the region’s political leaders find a way of improving transport access to the East Coast.

There are already fears that the railway line from York to Scarborough will miss out on the electrification of the TransPennine Express route, while improvements to the A64 remain just a pipedream, despite the de-selected Thirsk, Malton and Filey MP Anne McIntosh receiving a sympathetic response from David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions, when the Tory MP conceded that “the quality and capacity of the road system in Yorkshire” remains “a major issue”.

Given that Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill has become a Minister at the Department for Transport, now is the time to press the case for the transport improvements so that even more people can appreciate this area’s charm and beauty.