Minister says flooding is unprecedented event, as she defends spending

Environment secretary Liz Truss rejects claims of environmental protection funding cuts, as thousands of homes in north-west remain without power

Liz Truss has defended the government's spending on flood protection, as thousands of homes in Cumbria and Lancashire remain without power after devastating extreme weather.

As local authorities continued their clean-up operation, the environment secretary tried to head off a political row about whether cuts to flood defence spending and poor projections about climate change were partly to blame for the scale of flooding in the north-west.