Link to Commons debate.

Motion to increase funding for flood prevention and forecasting

This House recognises:

• That residents in Cumbria, Yorkshire, the South West, the Thames Valley, Tyneside, Wales, Lancashire, Scotland and Northern Ireland, among other areas, have been historically affected by flooding and likely will be in the future.

• That in order for the aforementioned areas to recover quickly from floods, appropriate government action is needed.

• After Storm Desmond, and the subsequent storms during the floods of late 2015 and early 2016, a review of flood defences was promised by the government, but as yet nothing has been presented to this House.

• That in January of this year, a motion was presented to this House calling on the government to apply for money from the European Union Solidarity Fund to aid flood relief, but it was never put to the vote.

• The current Budget allocates £3.01 billion to Environmental Risk and Emergencies, which is inadequate given the devastation flooding has caused, and will likely cause in the future.

• The current flood defense system, including temporary defences, permanent defences and infrastructure protection, is inadequate given the devastation flooding has caused and will likely cause in the future.

• That the current flood modelling system is inadequate given its focus on historical records of river flows and rainfall, rather than modern forecasting technologies.

Therefore, this House urges:

• The government to pledge to meet any future demand for extra funding requested by local authorities in relation to flooding.

• The government to pledge to maintain the current funding for flood defence maintenance.

• The government to pledge to invest an extra £100 million in this Parliament, and £400 million over the next four years, into flood defence and flood modelling technologies.

This motion was written by u/Hairygrim Shadow Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and sponsored by u/UnexpectedHippo , Shadow Secretary of State for Health, on behalf of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal 14th Opposition.

The voting period for this bill will end at 10PM BST on the 9th of December.

Vote Aye, No or Abstain. Comments with anything else will be deleted. Comments that are edited will be void and not counted.

If a member is voting by proxy, they must have gained permission from the speaker prior to this vote. If no permission was sought and granted, their vote will not be counted.

For full clarifications on the voting system see this post.