Southern Britain Braces for Snow Amid Ongoing Flood Crisis: Labour Calls for New Taskforce as Government Faces Criticism

As southern Britain braced itself for a blast of snow and ice, the devastating aftermath of Storm Henk left thousands of homes flooded, with ministers accused of doing little more than “staring out of the window and watching the rain come down.” Labour is now calling for the creation of a new taskforce to tackle the issue, citing the government’s inability to effectively protect communities from flooding.

The region is still reeling from the storm’s impact, with over 250 flood warnings and alerts remaining in place in England and Wales as of Monday night. Amid the chaos, Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, visited the flood-ravaged town of Loughborough in Leicestershire, where he condemned the government’s response to flooding as inadequate. He called for a taskforce to be established in the autumn to identify at-risk areas and implement preventative measures, rather than simply reacting after the event.

Robbie Moore, the minister for water and rural growth, acknowledged that 2,000 homes had been flooded, with the worst-hit areas including Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. He attributed the flooding to record or close-to-record levels in several rivers, including the Trent, Thames, Severn, and Avon. The Environment Agency deployed over 1,000 staff members to affected areas, set up 125 pumps, and installed more than seven miles of temporary and semi-permanent defenses.

Despite these efforts, critics argue that the government’s approach remains woefully inadequate. The shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed, pointed out that millions of pounds allocated to protect communities had not reached the areas most in need, and that over 4,000 flood defenses in England were rated “poor or very poor” last year. He also highlighted an underspend of £310m in the flood protection programme.

In response, Moore defended the government’s record, claiming that more than £6bn had been invested since 2010 to protect over 600,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion. However, opponents argue that this is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the problem.

The criticism was not limited to the government’s failure to act on flooding; the Green party’s Caroline Lucas also slammed the government’s energy policies, which she claimed would exacerbate extreme weather events. The debate rages on, with one thing clear: the issue of flooding cannot be ignored, and ministers must take swift and decisive action to protect communities and address the root causes of this growing problem.