The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Funding relief increased after response criticised
The UK relief effort to help Caribbean communities devastated by Hurricane Irma has been given extra funding as Theresa May defended her government against accusations it reacted too slowly.
The prime minister pledged an extra £25million, on top of the £32million already promised, to aid the attempts to rebuild the storm-ravaged British overseas territories.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has travelled to the region to see the impact of the storm.
But he denied the UK had been slow to react, as did Mrs May, who told MPs in the Commons: “The UK response was a speedy one.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged the prime minister to “look carefully” at the aid effort, while current and former officials from one of the affected islands, Anguilla, criticised the level of support.
One former Anguilla government official said the long-term planning should have been in place beforehand, particularly as forecasters had warned of “unprecedented” weather.
Dorothea Hodge, who was the UK/EU representative for the island’s government between 2010 and 2015, said many islanders were still without power, including her 91-year-old uncle.
“Food and water could have been stockpiled on islands for the season as scientists were predicting an unprecedented season of hurricanes,” she said.
“It’s not like Grenfell - this is something that has been predicted so I know from my time, these details would have been coming into the Foreign Office.”
The chief minister of Anguilla praised Mr Johnson’s response time, saying he had called “within hours” of the passing of the storm.
But Victor Banks said the original £32million pledged in aid to territories was “not enough” and estimated the bill to repair his island’s infrastructure alone could reach £1billion.
“I am talking about real capital infrastructure development by the British Government. At the end of the day, the £10million to £15million which is going to come to us is not going to be sufficient.”