"What next from the Tory excuse machine”
The Environment Minister has been widely criticised for blaming the direction of rain for flood management failures, after Storm Babet has caused destruction and loss of life in the UK.
Therese Coffey faced ridicule for implying that the severity of the extreme flooding was, in fact, to do with the direction of the rain travel.
Speaking in Parliament, Coffey blamed a lack of preparation for the floods because apparently, “most of our rain tends to come in from the West”. Whilst, she told MPs, that “this was rain coming from the other way”.
Coffey told the environment committee: “We’re very good with the Met Office and the environment agency for predicting weather normally, because most of our rain tends to come in from the West. We’ve got that pretty much down to a fine art.
However, she went on: “This was rain coming from the other way. And we don’t have quite as much experience of that, therefore our accuracy of predicting where such heavy rain would fall was not to the same degree as if it had been.”
Her comments were picked up by the Liberal Democrat Party, who responded: “Therese Coffey blaming the wrong wind for the Government’s failure to protect homes from flooding would almost be comical – if so many had not suffered so deeply from her incompetence. This is a new low for an Environment Secretary that cannot help but say or do the wrong thing.”
Prem Sikka, Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward wrote: “Wisdom of Thérèse Coffey. Floods killed people, destroyed lives, made hundreds homeless for umpteenth time. Coffey says it is because rain came in from the east. Nothing to do with govt failures, lack of investment. What next from the Tory excuse machine.”
Her lack of reference to the effects of climate change on increased flood severity were also picked up. This was in contrast to the SNP leader Humza Yousaf who warned that the climate crisis will see “more and more adverse weather events in Scotland”.
Writer Matthew Todd wrote on X: “Therese Coffey said govt couldn’t help flood victims because the rain came ‘from the other way’. People don’t understand that the government don’t have a clue about the climate crisis. Both Theresa May and Boris both as good as admitted it. The blind are leading the blind.”
Whilst green energy Industrialist Dale Vince said Coffey’s comments were “off the charts” bizarre.
“How do people like this get to be in positions of power?” Mused Vince on X. “We’re ‘not used to rain from the East’ apparently. Seriously, as excuses go, or indeed climate denial – this one takes the biscuit (this week)…:)”
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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