Water works left to farms and councils

Mrs Spelman was speaking in West Yorkshire yesterday afternoon after announcing the abolition of one of the last government's quangos, the Commission for Rural Communities.

She also announced that two Defra departments, Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, would be merged.

The CRC was led by a Tony Blair favourite, Stuart Burgess, who had a team of 60 and a budget of 6m to keep the Cabinet briefed on the rural implications of all policies.

After the Cabinet meeting in Bradford, she toured a Yorkshire Water site at Esholt, and confirmed the budget for flood defences would be reviewed.

"You cannot protect against everything," she said, adding: "Before the Environment Agency existed, it was farmers and local authorities who provided flood defences and I think we need both the EA and local solutions to improve our resilience."