PM defends climate change claim

The Prime Minister told MPs last night that even people who believe climate change is “mumbo jumbo” should see it “makes sense” to do everything possible to mitigate the impact of extreme weather in areas at risk of flooding.

Mr Cameron defended the coalition’s decision to cut funding to the Environment Agency, which manages and maintains flood defences, and praised the effectiveness of the coastal barriers which held firm under the recent tidal surges.

However, he also admitted that the Government is still encountering co-ordination issues between different agencies and departments which have yet to be “nailed down”.

Mr Cameron was answering questions on energy and the environment before senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee last night, less than a week after telling the House of Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions that he “very much suspects” the recent extreme weather events are linked to climate change.

Asked about his comments by Energy Committee chairman Tim Yeo, Mr Cameron said he was “slightly surprised” to see his words had provoked national headlines the following day.

“What I said was pretty unremarkable,” Mr Cameron said.

“The climate change scientists all came out and said that saying you ‘suspect’ it was a very sensible way of putting it.

“You can’t point to one weather event and say, ‘a-ha, that is climate change’. What I think you should do is to look back (and see) there are more extreme events, and our scientists are advising us there may be climate change.”

Mr Cameron said that regardless of any individual’s views on the realities or otherwise of global warming, it is indisputable that extreme weather is now occurring more frequently – and that Britain must therefore be prepared to respond.

“Whatever you think, even if you think that’s mumbo jumbo, because these thing are happening more often it makes sense to do all you can to mitigate, to prevent, to invest, to prevent these floods affecting so many people,” he said.

The Prime Minister highlighted the coalition’s multi-million pound investment in new flood defences, and defended its decision to slash funding to the Environment Agency over the past three years.

He pointed to recent comments from Environment Agency chief executive Paul Leinster, who has insisted the enormous cuts the agency has sustained would not impact on front-line services.

But Mr Cameron admitted there was more work to be done to ensure all the arms of Government are working closely together to prevent serious flooding.

“We need to keep looking at the resilience issue,” he said.

“As Prime Minister, when these weather events take place we call (Government crisis response committee) Cobra. We get everyone round the table and we listen to where the problems are – and we still come across infrastructure or co-ordination issues that haven’t yet been totally nailed down.”

On his Government’s wider energy policy, Mr Cameron said that after exhaustive meetings with power company bosses he has been assured there is “no danger” of the UK suffering black-outs – despite warnings from some experts that power cuts could be two or three years away.

“I’ve given it my personal attention,” the Prime Minister said. “This is a risk Britain cannot afford to take.”