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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/06/david-cameron-claim-flood-spending
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Does David Cameron's claim on flood defence spending hold water? | Does David Cameron's claim on flood defence spending hold water? |
(35 minutes later) | |
David Cameron claims his government will have spent more on flood defences between 2011 and 2015 than in the four years of Labour rule from 2006-10. | David Cameron claims his government will have spent more on flood defences between 2011 and 2015 than in the four years of Labour rule from 2006-10. |
Does the claim stack up? The short answer – if you take into account inflation – is no: there will have been a cut in real terms. Furthermore, a real-terms comparison between what was spent on flood defences in the last year of Labour's budget – £646m in 2010-11 – and the last year of the coalition's current spending plans – £546m in 2015-16 – shows a 15% drop. | Does the claim stack up? The short answer – if you take into account inflation – is no: there will have been a cut in real terms. Furthermore, a real-terms comparison between what was spent on flood defences in the last year of Labour's budget – £646m in 2010-11 – and the last year of the coalition's current spending plans – £546m in 2015-16 – shows a 15% drop. |
But Cameron's claim can be made true – just – with the following argument. First, ignore inflation. Even then, total government spending on flood defences in the current four-year spending period – £2.134bn – falls short of that in the previous spending period by £102m. But the government claims a new partnership funding scheme – largely taken from local authority budgets – will deliver £148m by 2015. So, assuming the partnership money materialises, Cameron (left) can claim that 2% more – £46m – will be spent. | |
But there are two important caveats. First, the early years of the 2006-10 period – including low-spending years before the devastating flooding of 2007 – led ministers to ramp up funding. Second, climate change is driving up the risk of flooding far faster than any increase in spending on defences – whichever way you do the accounts. | But there are two important caveats. First, the early years of the 2006-10 period – including low-spending years before the devastating flooding of 2007 – led ministers to ramp up funding. Second, climate change is driving up the risk of flooding far faster than any increase in spending on defences – whichever way you do the accounts. |
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