Flood of blame in UK vote
EVERY YEAR WE DON’T ACT MEANS HIGHER FLOOD WATERS, MORE HOMES RUINED AND MORE LIVES AT RISK. JEREMY CORBYN
BRITISH political leaders have swapped blame over floods that have drenched parts of England as the deluge became an issue in the campaign for the December 12 election.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn visited areas of South Yorkshire in northern England that were soaked by overflowing rivers after as much as 112mm of rain – more than a month’s worth – fell in one day. One woman died when she was swept away by floodwaters.
The rain eased yesterday but the Environment Agency said seven severe “danger to life” flood warnings remained in place along the swollen River Don. Mr Corbyn said the Conservative Government had “failed to prepare communities by investing in flood prevention”. “This is what a climate and environment emergency looks like,” he said. “Every year we don’t act means higher flood waters, more homes ruined and more lives at risk.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the area and insisted the Government was investing in flood defences.
“We are seeing more and more serious flooding – perhaps because of building, almost certainly because of climate change,” Mr Johnson said. “We need to prepare and we need to be investing in those defences, and that’s what this Government is doing.”
The Prime Minister annoyed some locals by saying that the flooding “is not looking like something we need to escalate to the level of a national emergency”.
Mr Johnson pushed for the December election – taking place more than two years early – in the hope of breaking Britain’s political impasse over Brexit. All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs. Mr Johnson says that if voters give the Conservatives a majority he will “get Brexit done” and take the UK out of the European Union by the current deadline of January 31.
Labour says it will negotiate a new divorce deal with the EU and then let voters decide between leaving on those terms and remaining in the bloc.
Both big parties are also promising more money for infrastructure, health care and public services.
The latest opinion poll, for the Sunday Times newspaper, shows the Conservative Party has extended its lead on Labour. The Conservatives held steady on 39 per cent while the Labour Party lost 1 percentage point of support, dropping to 26 per cent.