John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the flooding across many parts of the country is calling for cross party agreement on flood defence funding.

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said:

“It is truly terrible what many are suffering at this time of year, despite the excellent work of the emergency services. It is in this light that as politicians we must not just sit idly by watching these awful scenes on TV, but come together to act.

“While we must take the measures needed to reduce the threat of climate change, we also need a cross party approach to securing a long term stable plan for investment in a programme that enables us to adapt to climate change.

“We have to recognise the potential scale of expenditure and stability of investment planning that is required. Our country cannot afford for the government to not invest when the sun is shining; which is what we have seen with the current stop start approach to investment in this field in recent years.

“I am willing to sit down with the Chancellor to seek a cross party consensus on identifying the resources we need for this programme so that any investment programme remains secure beyond the life of one Parliament.

“We also need to look again at the contribution the insurance sector could make to this investment programme.”