Boris Johnson has been accused of an “utterly outrageous” lack of concern about the severe floods that have caused devastation and misery in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire.
After the floods hit parts of Nottinghamshire, Simon Greaves, the Labour leader of Bassetlaw district council, said the prime minister was “preoccupied with electioneering” when he should have been coordinating a national response to the flooding.
Speaking to The Guardian, Greaves said the government had a “fantastic opportunity to step up to the plate and take emergency action” but were “concentrating more on the general election campaign than they were on people’s lives”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He added: “They had an opportunity to take action [and] they consciously chose not to. I think it’s utterly outrageous.”
The criticism comes after Jeremy Corbyn called on the prime minister to “take personal charge” of the situation yesterday. Blaming government cuts for the severity of the damage, the Labour leader promised to inject more funding into flood defences.
He denounced Johnson for not declaring a national emergency, saying: “If this had happened in Surrey, not Yorkshire or the east Midlands, it seems far more likely that a national emergency would have been declared.”
The Liberal Democrats have pledged £5bn for flood prevention measures and their leader, Jo Swinson, has echoed Corbyn’s call for the government to declare the floods a “national emergency”.
There was further criticism from local politicians. David Hughes, the mayor of Matlock, said: “Obviously if people are flooded for days and days on end then it is an emergency for them and it seems to be over a large area.”
Tony Nicholson, a Green councillor in the Doncaster suburb of Bentley, which remained under a severe flood warning yesterday, echoed Corbyn’s sentiment, saying: “If this was in another area this would be deemed a national emergency. This is devastating for people’s lives.”
However, Jane Cox, the leader of the Conservative group on Doncaster council, said of the flooding: “I firmly believe it should not be politicised.”
The prime minister chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency committee Cobra yesterday.
More than 1,200 properties have been evacuated in northern England. A woman died after being swept away by floodwater in Darley Dale near Matlock.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Get your first six issues for £6–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
-
Sepsis ‘breakthrough’: the world’s first targeted treatment?The Explainer New drug could reverse effects of sepsis, rather than trying to treat infection with antibiotics
-
James Van Der Beek obituary: fresh-faced Dawson’s Creek starIn The Spotlight Van Der Beek fronted one of the most successful teen dramas of the 90s – but his Dawson fame proved a double-edged sword
-
Is Andrew’s arrest the end for the monarchy?Today's Big Question The King has distanced the Royal Family from his disgraced brother but a ‘fit of revolutionary disgust’ could still wipe them out
-
How corrupt is the UK?The Explainer Decline in standards ‘risks becoming a defining feature of our political culture’ as Britain falls to lowest ever score on global index
-
The high street: Britain’s next political battleground?In the Spotlight Mass closure of shops and influx of organised crime are fuelling voter anger, and offer an opening for Reform UK
-
Biggest political break-ups and make-ups of 2025The Explainer From Trump and Musk to the UK and the EU, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a round-up of the year’s relationship drama
-
Is a Reform-Tory pact becoming more likely?Today’s Big Question Nigel Farage’s party is ahead in the polls but still falls well short of a Commons majority, while Conservatives are still losing MPs to Reform
-
The launch of Your Party: how it could workThe Explainer Despite landmark decisions made over the party’s makeup at their first conference, core frustrations are ‘likely to only intensify in the near-future’
-
Asylum hotels: everything you need to knowThe Explainer Using hotels to house asylum seekers has proved extremely unpopular. Why, and what can the government do about it?
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
Your Party: a Pythonesque shamblesTalking Point Comical disagreements within Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's group highlight their precarious position
