Emma Hardy

Emma Hardy

Labour — Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice

Speaking in the House of Commons on 22 October 2026

Debate

Flood Preparation

Contribution

The hon. Gentleman raises a really important point. We used to have the flood taskforce; just last week, we held the first meeting of the new flood and drought taskforce, which was attended by four Ministers—from DEFRA, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Transport. The focus of that meeting absolutely was how we can be most prepared. I am determined that this year, because of El Niño and the concerns that the hon. Gentleman rightly raised, we will be more prepared than ever before. That is why we have done everything from targeting children and families, all the way through to looking at our transport system, resilience across Government and local resilience forums to see whether they are ready if the worst should happen. We are going out to every area and talking to Ministers across Government, so that they can contact the organisations for which they are responsible and ask them if they are prepared and ready. Although I cannot stop it raining, I want us to be as prepared as possible when it does rain.

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