Communities Minister Eric Pickles joined the attack, suggesting that the government had “perhaps relied too much on the Environment Agency’s advice” on flood prevention. Pickles, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party, told BBC TV that “we thought we were dealing with experts.”
On Monday, Chris Smith, the head of the Environment Agency, hit back and accused ministers of having held back vital funds. Smith, a former member of parliament for the Labour Party, said the Treasury had limited the amount the agency could spend on flood management in Somerset.
“When I hear someone criticizing the expertise and professionalism of my staff in the Environment Agency who know more about flood risk management – 100 times more about flood risk management – than any politician ever does, I am not going to sit idly by,” Smith said.
via Thames bursts banks as Cameron calls UK floods ‘bibilical’ | News | DW.DE | 10.02.2014.




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