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Millions go wanting on Cumbria flood relief

Friday, 11th June 2010

UKIP has slammed a decision not to apply for millions of pounds to help rebuild Cumbrian communities following last November's floods.

North West MEP Paul Nuttall believes that the former Labour administration has let down the people of Cumbria by failing to apply for assistance from the European Union’s Solidarity Fund. 

The fund, which was established in 2002, is designed to provide aid to EU member states in the event of natural disasters and has £900 million each year set aside for such use.

To draw on the fund, the British government needed to submit an application within ten weeks of the flooding - and this was not done.      

Mr. Nuttall, UKIP Euro MP for Cumbria, said today, “Although the situation is very complicated, it is clear that the former Labour government did not apply for what could have been up to £120 million of aid for Cumbria through the Solidarity Fund.” 

In 2007, the British government submitted an application for funding from the fund due to flooding and received around £110 million as a contribution to the costs of recovery.

This year, the Solidarity Fund was mobilised to help Portugal because of flooding in Madeira, and Poland is in process of applying. 

Mr. Nuttall said, “The people of Cumbria work hard, pay their taxes and see a good portion of it sent out to Brussels. I think it is only fair that they should be able to get some of it back when they need it most.

"It is a disgrace that the government let this opportunity pass by. Of course if we were not handing over £45 million a day to the EU we would have sufficient funds of our own to deal with the aftermath of disasters," he added.

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