Urgent need for flood aid

As the plan to reduce the public-sector deficit proceeds apace, with local authorities told to rein in spending and concentrate on their core functions, the unpredictable British climate has failed to read the script.

In this region alone, all too frequent deluges over the past few years have caused havoc and devastation, with ensuing misery for thousands of householders and business owners as they waited for the slow process of cleaning up and rebuilding to be completed.

Much as Ministers may want to close their eyes to this chaos, they have to face the fact that the costs of this repair process are an intolerable burden on those councils affected, made even worse by the sheer unpredictability of where and when the next bout of flooding will occur and how serious its effects will be.

Calderdale Council, for example, estimates that last year’s flooding left it with a clean-up bill of £8.5m. Yet it received a mere £80,000 from the Government’s Bellwin Scheme, set up to help councils to cope with emergencies, while North Yorkshire Council received nothing at all following the floods of last September, which caused £3m damage to roads and bridges.

When David Cameron visited the Calder Valley following the summer floods of 2012, which left much of Todmorden and Hebden Bridge under water, he listened to the stories of flood victims and promised to do his best to help them.

But the Government’s rejection of the clear advice from the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee to give more money to flood-hit areas suggests that Ministers have now closed their ears to the constant pleas for help.

Indeed, committee chairman and Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh goes so far as to suggest that the Government may be actively discriminating against rural areas – mostly safe Conservative seats – after waiving the Bellwin rules to give more aid to some urban authorities.

Whatever the political calculations involved, however, it is clear that this is an issue which Ministers are desperate to put to one side until after the 2015 election. Unfortunately, however, the British climate may have other ideas.

Full Marx

MAURICE SAATCHI knows a thing or two about winning elections. So when the man who helped to bring Margaret Thatcher to power gives the modern-day Conservatives some advice, they would do well to listen.

Of course, Lord Saatchi’s claim that Karl Marx may be proved right and that Ed Miliband’s embrace of socialism could be an election winner will not exactly be music to the ears of David Cameron.

But the Prime Minister and his colleagues should consider Lord Saatchi’s message carefully. After all, It is clear that, however economically muddled the Labour leader’s pledge to freeze energy prices is, it will have a big appeal to voters who know – from bitter experience – that the rising tide of economic recovery is so far lifting only the yachts, to use Mr Miliband’s analogy.

The cost of living remains stubbornly high, inequality is widening and – as Marx predicted – fewer and fewer large firms control ever greater capitalist empires. The gap between large corporations and their individual customers is larger than ever and consumers are feeling increasingly helpless and ever more angry, a situation which Mr Miliband is keen to exploit. As Lord Saatchi points out, many voters do not know which is worse, big companies or big government, and it is up to the Tories to show them by reminding them of the greatest Conservative value, freedom.

Global corporations may be larger than ever, but the sheer number of small businesses who continue to battle their way through hard times are proof that capitalism is alive, well and rejuvenating itself.

There is a far greater chance of more boats catching the rising economic tide if their skippers are masters of their own ship and it is only the Conservatives who can offer the political and economic freedoms for people to achieve this.

The question is how Mr Cameron demonstrates this and how he contrasts it with Mr Miliband’s superficially appealing message of ever greater state control.

Racing success

PERHAPS the most surprising aspect of yesterday’s inaugural Yorkshire Marathon is the fact that the region has never had such an event before.

For there was certainly nothing surprising about its success, given the talent and enthusiasm that runs through this most sporting of counties, as more than 6,000 runners took on the route past the great landmarks of York and through the glorious countryside of North Yorkshire and the East Riding.

Nor is it surprising that this event came about through the enthusiasm and dedication of Jane Tomlinson’s Run for All, the organisation set up after the Leeds fundraiser died of cancer in 2007.

And with the new race achieving worldwide popularity and raising more than £1.3m for charity, it is certainly no surprise that it looks set to become a fixture on the international sporting calendar.