Phil Woolas MP facing biggest test of his career

Date published: 25/07/2007

Phil Woolas, the Oldham East and Saddleworth (which includes Milnrow and NewHey) MP and newly-appointed climate change minister has spent recent days involved in an emergency operation which involved calling or visiting tens of thousands of the most vulnerable people caught up in the devastation.

And in between visiting Oxford and Abingdon he was on the phone to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who called the emergency Cobra committee to session.

Mr Woolas and other ministers directly involved with the operation were contacted by phone to enable them to stay in the worst-hit areas.

Mr Woolas said: "It is a major operation and our priority is protecting people. The consequences and the need to get this right is huge and we need to understand the myriad of consequences.

"We fear the worst is yet to come. It is the biggest exercise I have been involved in during my time in Parliament.

"When you see people’s homes devastated it is very emotional and truly awful.

"People do not understand it is not only water but sewage and it is just filthly."

He defended the Government’s spending on flood defences and in particular the £14 million cut that was made in the budget for flood defences.

He told the BBC’s "Newsnight": "The capital money has been increased by hundreds of millions. There is a lead–in time, you can’t just put a flood defence up overnight.

"The £14 million was the recurrent budget on feasibility studies. We look at 10, 20, 30–year timetables on these situations.

"There is, as the chair of the Environment Agency and the chief executive have said, a big debate for the nation to have but the idea that £14 million on recurrent budget would have, in anyway, affected what’s happened this week is palpable nonsense."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Government was doing what it could to make sure communities were defended against further flooding, promising to invest more in flood defences, drainage and infrastructure.