EU FLOOD MONEY SLASHED BY GOVERNMENT

1.36.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 9th May 2008

Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Liz Lynne has reacted with anger to the news that the net EU contribution to the last summer's flood recovery will be just £31m, not £110m as announced previously by the government.

The MEP for the West Midlands region had campaigned hard for the government to apply to the EU's Solidarity Fund after last summer's floods, and urged a quick response to the application from the European Commission.

But it has now emerged that due to the abatement mechanism agreed by the Thatcher government with the EU, the actual amount received from the Solidarity Fund and passed on to local councils and agencies will only be £31 million.

Commenting today, Liz Lynne MEP said:

"This news is outrageous and undermines the hard work many of us did to ensure the application received a quick and favourable response from the European Commission.

"For the government to trumpet the success of the £110m contribution from the EU Solidarity Fund, and then quietly admit months later that the actual net payment will be much lower, is hugely misleading.

"Anyone seeking to blame the EU for this should be in no doubt; it is UK government policy that has directly led to local authorities and government agencies missing out on this funding, and these bodies would be right to feel angered by this news."

ENDS

Notes:

The government's internal report on the flooding, led by Sir Michael Pitt, will be published in June 2008.

After the flooding hit areas of central and Northern England in summer 2007 Liz Lynne pushed hard for the UK government to apply to the EU Solidarity Fund, which is intended to reimburse non-insured losses, such as emergency assistance and public infrastructure costs.

Liz then campaigned at the European Parliament for the application to be approved as quickly as possible, speaking on the subject in the chamber and corresponding with Commissioner Hubner. The Commission then approved £110m of funding to help with the costs of emergency recovery, which will only equate to a net payment of £31m. This is due to the 'abatement mechanism', with the EU, commonly known as the rebate, established in 1984.

Liz Lynne also campaigned for funding for the Severn Valley Railway which was severely damaged by the flooding and largely out of action for several months. The railway is vital to the tourism and leisure economy of Worcestershire and Shropshire in her West Midlands region constituency and reopened fully in March 2008.