To wonder if any of the 'new' Conservative voters in the flooded North/Wales are pissed off with Johnson yet?

[WarwickLife]

Boris Johnson seems to be virtually invisible these days- refusing to be interviewed on the BBC, not answering journalists questions and not turning up immediately to show support for the flooded communities in Wales and northern England.

Just wondering how any of the new Tory voters from the old 'red wall' type communities are feeling now, and if anyone is regretting voting as they did?

I suppose people are comparing his actions to previous Prime Ministers who have visited when floods have struck. A quick google shows that David Cameron went several times. Gordon Brown went. Tony Blair went. Boris managed to visit flooded Yorkshire during the run-up to the election when he was looking for publicity. My guess is he hasn't come up this time because he was roundly mocked on that occasion for trying to create a photo opportunity with a mop that didn't go down too well. His advisers probably think it's better for him not to show up at all rather than to show up and make an idiot of himself. In fact, that must be why he doesn't really show up to anything.

ssd I’m a Tory supporter, and I live very near the flooding area of Mytholmroyd which whilst it hasnt affected my home has affected family members and friends massively, so you’re being pretty insulting to suggest I might not care. The great thing up here is that the whole community, including those of us not affected directly, have come together raising money, turning up with help and collecting things from local businesses, in a none political way. None of us have discussed Boris Johnson, only to say we don’t want him up here getting in the way, nor do we discuss amongst ourselves what political persuasion we are. The situation is too important to enter into political scoring.

@WarwickLife 'Where is the support and prevention investment? Part of his role is to show solidarity and put his money where his mouth is.'

So I take it you missed the part where it was announced the met office was being given an additional £x billion (sorry, don't have time to look up the exact figure but you can Google it) for a new super computer so they can more accurately predict precisely where floods are going to occur and they can most effectively take action? He would have been busy in meetings over that. There is a lot of stuff that's going on in government all the time, it doesn't stop.

What about the EU ban on dredging? Government has wanted to do some for a long time in areas to ease flooding. In some areas it's exacerbating it terribly but until we're out of the EU completely (so no longer subject to the same rules etc) then there's nothing we can do about it. A friend of a friend is in government and confirms that things like this are being discussed a lot. It's better to tackle the problem with a proper long term solution than just firefight it with barriers that may or may not worry and don't protect everyone.

PM visits to areas do nothing to help residents. It's just a publicity stunt and takes him away from dealing with everything he needs to to actually fix things in this country.

*Work, not worry

Of course not OP. No matter what, no blame will attach to Boris as that would involve people admitting they were conned. The last 5 years have shown that nobody likes to do that.

Hmmis, Completely agree.
In my area massive flood defence barriers is being built but it's taken years of negotiations with land owners and the council/Sepa etc.
So it wasn't ready to stop the bistro on the corner fall into the river the other week.
The idea that there's been no action and just because Boris hasn't come up for a photo opportunity means he doesn't care is just daft.

Funny, I've always thought that people in flooded areas must really want the politicians to fuck off when they turn up in their wellies for a photo op.

Of course Corbyn would have had a stern word with the rain clouds and they’d have said, ‘Yes, O Great and Mighty One!’ and dropped all that water in the sea, instead.

Yes, absolutely, since Boris got his majority three and a half months ago he definitely should have produced several billion pounds to upgrade flood defences, and built them, whilst simultaneously dealing with Brexit, and you know, running the country.

That's a bit disingenuous. His party has been in power far longer than that and has had plenty of time to improve flood defences.

Re dredging, I'm not convinced it is the answer. It can only help so much. It wouldn't really prevent flooding in extreme conditions.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25911391

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/30/dredging-rivers-floods-somerset-levels-david-cameron-farmers

www.wcl.org.uk/docs/Floods_and_Dredging_a_reality_check.pdf

www.newscientist.com/article/dn25030-dredging-would-not-have-stopped-massive-uk-floods/

No. I knew he didn’t give a shit about anything outside London so no surprise there then

Agree it's best to stay out of the way but IF he cared he could have done some kind of televised statement clarifying his thoughts and what the government IS doing re defences.

@nobodyimportant
'Re dredging, I'm not convinced it is the answer. It can only help so much. It wouldn't really prevent flooding in extreme conditions.'

There are certainly areas where it would either prevent flooding or help significantly but you're absolutely right, it's not a silver bullet and won't help everywhere.

'Fixing' the problem would be be an absolutely monumental and horrifically expensive operation and the truth is we couldn't afford to do it all, possibly over very long term but not right now. It's even more important, therefore, to make sure that whatever is done to improve the situation is well-researched and thought through, is as effective and helps as many people as possible and gives the most 'bang for buck'. I don't think anyone really knows what the 'perfect' answer is right now though... I certainly don't think it's to throw money at the problem willy nilly without knowing if it's truly going to help or turn out to be a waste of precious public funds.

On the plus side there is a lot going on behind the scenes right now that I can only hope will result in some real action. I think at least there's finally some acceptance that this is a real issue that's not going to go away and they have no choice but to address it.

I'm surprised that people don't care he's not even holding a COBRA meeting.

But as pp says, people won't want to think he was just doing it for the votes before the election or that they have been at all conned about how much he cares about people in the country.

Flood defences are important and so just saying he doesn't control the weather seems strange to me. Not to mention the level of help, practical and financial, available to those affected, which is the responsibility of the government

The EU didn't ban dredging, there have been dredging projects on the Somerset Levels for the past 5 years! IIRC flood prevention methods are a "devolved matter" so I suspect it's more likely the govt didn't want to pay for it in most cases preferring other methods. A PP has helpfully posted links to the dredging project above

Torys are causing flooding now are they? 😂

Visiting flood-affected areas is something I expect this royal family to do, that's the kind of thing they are for.

Jezza would have laid his own body down across every dyke. He would have personally rescued every old lady, sluiced out every home, and given the kiss of life to every drowned sparrow, then been present but not involved at the laying of a wreath to commemorate the slugs.

Pretty sure Boris didn’t cause flooding but good try in trying to blame him OP. Perhaps he’s got to battle other demons - like brexit. Why would a politician turning up help?