Government smug about storm – George

The MP for West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Andrew George, said the Government had been worryingly complacent about the impact of Storm Goretti. He said this after he successfully called a Cabinet Office Minister (Dan Jarvis MP) to the Commons to answer questions about the Government’s handling of the consequences of the storm.

Mr. George’s constituency took the brunt of the storm. Closing roads, schools, cutting power, water, and other services, and leaving more than 60,000 homes affected across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Nursing home patients were hastily evacuated, thousands of homes were without water and/or mains power for days, and thousands of vulnerable people were isolated.

Mr George said, “Cornwall and Scilly are used to severe storms, but this was exceptional. The devastation has been considerable.

“Many of my residents believe that if the same level of destruction, service outage, loss of life, and impact on vulnerable people that happened to London or the Home Counties, it would’ve been national headline news for days, and the Government would’ve declared a national emergency.

“The Minister said that only 193 properties remained without power. But constituents contacting my office demonstrate otherwise; that utility companies’ records are unreliably optimistic. The situation is still significantly worse.

“It’s clear the Government should’ve declared a national emergency. It’s not too late, even now, for Ministers to review that position. I urge them to look behind the self-assured portrayals offered by utility companies and appraise themselves of the seriousness of the situation and to learn lessons about our country’s worrying lack of resilience to cope when extreme events happen, as they are bound to again with increasing frequency.”

 

Link to House of Commons clip: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/173abf3e-c9b2-4852-a427-69658457bf68?in=13:32:44