David Cameron says climate change is to blame for the UK floods as ministers are accused of using global warming as an excuse for failures. Cameron has been accused of blaming the UK flooding disaster on climate change rather than the fact that Britain’s flood defence budgets had been massively cut. The Mail Online reports: David Cameron admitted that flood defences had not been sufficient, but suggested that the greater frequency of ‘extreme weather events’ was to blame. And Liz Truss, the environment secretary, said the floods had been so severe because the rainfall had been ‘unprecedented’. Last night Labour MP Simon Danczuk, whose Rochdale constituency has been badly affected by the floods, accused ministers of trying to ‘hide behind’ the issue of climate change – when the real problem was spending cuts. Ministers reduced funding on defences before severe flooding in Cumbria a year ago forced them to reverse the cuts. Mr Danczuk said: ‘The Government shouldn’t be using climate change as an excuse for what is a predictable phenomenon. Instead of trying to hide behind climate change, they should have ensured the Environment Agency was properly funded so people’s lives were not turned upside-down.’ And weather expert Helen [...]