YP Comment: Help at last for flood victims, but firms still left unprotected

A street scene in York during the floods.

This is not, however, part of the Government’s response to the devastation caused three months ago. On the contrary, the Flood Re scheme is the result of several years of tortuous negotiation in response to the sky-high premiums being levied by insurance companies following a succession of major  floods over the past two decades.

As such, it is hardly a panacea for the problems faced by those living in flood-prone areas such as Leeds, Tadcaster and the Calder Valley, all hit by devastating levels of flood water on Boxing Day. But it is nonetheless welcome.

However, because the scheme is riddled with loopholes, many vulnerable homes will still be left struggling to find insurance cover while many businesses will still be forced to close or relocate.

While homes in the highest council-tax band will be protected, for example, many other, more modest properties, such as leasehold flats and buy-to-let properties, will be excluded, as will any property built since 2009.

Businesses, too, will be left unprotected. Yet, if there was one clear lesson from the Boxing Day devastation, it was this: if businesses cannot get insurance cover, the cost is measured in lost jobs and a trail of economic devastation that will last even longer than the physical damage caused by the floods.

In short, then, Flood Re is good as far as it goes, but it can only be a start. In a previous Calder Valley flooding emergency, in 2012, David Cameron promised to do everything in his power to help residents and businesses.

We are still waiting, Prime Minister. And, judging by the length of time it took to get even the limited protection offered by Flood Re up and running, we will be waiting for a long time yet.

Steel in crisis: Price of Government neglect

QUITE WHY the Government has been completely unprepared for the latest crisis to hit the steel industry is unclear.

It had been known for some time that last week’s meeting of the Tata Steel board was crucial to the future of its UK assets. Yet Ministers are reacting to the crisis with all the forethought of a group of rabbits caught in a car’s headlights.

The latest initiative to encourage public-sector bodies to buy British steel in an attempt to save the industry is a sensible move, but one that comes months, if not years, too late.

The news that a possible buyer for the Port Talbot works has come forward is also a welcome lifeline, but again it does nothing to excuse the Government’s failures.

It is true that lower-cost producers such as China have been undercutting Britain’s steel industry for some time. And it is also the case that the European Union has been piling on environmental costs, while simultaneously tying the Government’s hands when it comes to state aid.

Yet, ultimately, this is a crisis made not in Beijing or Brussels, but in Westminster and Whitehall. Green levies piled on industry, over and above those stipulated by the EU, are crippling industry and Ministers cannot be surprised when firms start to migrate to other countries where costs are much cheaper.

The Government needed to think all this through much earlier than it has done and the steel industry’s future now depends on whether it can play catch-up.

Sporting omens: A summer of Yorkshire success?

FOR THOSE who believe  in omens, what do the events of yesterday  presage for the success of Yorkshire sportsmen this summer?

England’s cricketers stumbled at the last  hurdle in their World T20 final against the West  Indies despite the sterling  efforts of Yorkshire’s own Joe Root, one of the  players of the tournament, aided by county colleagues David Willey, Adil  Rashid and Liam  Plunkett.

Yet, for Yorkshire sports fans, there was consolation in Barnsley’s stirring comeback to lift the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with a 3-2 victory at Wembley over Oxford United.

So what next for England and Yorkshire? Is there a third successive County Championship destined for Headingley?

Will Jamie Vardy follow the example of fellow Sheffielder Root in leading England to the Euro 2016 final? Or, then again, perhaps it is best not to get too far ahead of ourselves…