Our flood defences aren’t fit for the climate we have now

This week’s political fuss over whether the floods in Yorkshire constitute a ‘national emergency’ misses the point. It is too easy to declare an emergency for political purposes, to give the impression that the government is taking an issue seriously. It’s quite obvious that the scenes we have seen this week represent an emergency — the question is whether, once the helicopter visits and photo opportunities have ceased, all is forgotten and the political world moves on to the next emergency.

What has happened in Yorkshire over the past week is a symptom of chronic failure to manage the threat of flooding. We keep suffering these events. In 2015, it was Cumbria; a year earlier it was Somerset. They are not apocalyptic — even in 2012, one of the worst years for flooding, the total number of homes seriously damaged by flooding did not exceed 8,000. Given that there are 23 million homes in England, to be flooded is still a rare and unfortunate occurrence.