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This week the Environment Agency chairman stood down. Sir Philip Dilley was painted as the bad guy for being abroad when the floods hit.

He fell on his sword. But the real culprit who pushed through the cuts to flood defences shamefully escaped without a scratch.

That man is Gideon Oliver Osborne. After the election, Cameron awarded “George” a new title – First Secretary of State. I had it too . It effectively makes you second to the PM.

Osborne is, in all but name, our real Deputy Prime Minister.

When the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami hit Thailand I left our family Christmas in Hull to head to Downing Street to co-ordinate Britain’s response.

Last month, 16,000 UK homes were flooded, causing £6billion damage and £1.3billion insurance claims.

And Osborne did nothing. Not event a tweet expressing sympathy for the thousands of people whose Christmas was ruined by the floods.

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No wonder. He kept his head down because he knew it was all his fault.

(Image: Getty)

These latest floods again took place largely in the North and exposed the myth that the extreme weather, followed by extensive floods, is part of a “one-in-a-hundred-years” cycle.

Since 1998 there have been five cases of extreme weather and floods – in 1998, 2000, 2007, 2010, 2015. Each one seemingly worse than the last.

In 1998 and 2000 I went up as soon as possible to see what we could do.

The Institute of Civil Engineers conducted an inquiry into river flooding in 2000, and in 2007 Labour commissioned a detailed independent inquiry, leading to the Pitt Report.

All concluded we needed more resources, planning, a stronger ­Environment Agency and better controls over development on flood plains. Ninety recommendations from the Pitt Report were fully accepted by Labour, which implemented over half by 2010.

(Image: PA)

Then Osborne became Chancellor. His reckless pursuit of austerity literally opened the floodgates and the Pitt Report was ignored. Osborne cut flood defence spending from £362million in 2010 to £270million in 2013.

He slashed resources, power and staff in the Environment Agency, restricted ­councils’ power to prevent building houses on flood plains and failed to review whether his policies were working.

One example of his incompetence was to cut investment in the Leeds Flood Protection Scheme, which led to 2,200 properties being hit.

The collapse of the Tadcaster bridge will cost £3million to repair and it’s estimated that one in four bridges are under threat from frequent violent flooding. It is no use Cameron parading around in a pair of Asda wellies saying we have lessons to learn, when he did nothing in the past.

He promised to get flooded areas back to normal, offering piddling bits of money totalling £60million – £500 here, £1,000 there. Meanwhile the people of Tadcaster face a 10-mile detour to cross the river.

(Image: PA)

And how telling that when ministers went to meet local people in Tadcaster, they turned up on the wrong side!

What’s amazing is the Government refused to claim from the European Solidarity Fund for such emergencies on the grounds that it took too long to make such an application.

Labour claimed £137million from the fund after the 2007 floods, with no delay. That’s twice the total amount of extra funds Osborne is offering.

Is it because the money comes from Europe, and Osborne and Cameron are too scared to annoy their Eurosceptic backbenchers?

To make matters worse, they’ve launched an inquiry, similar to one that delivered the Pitt Report – which they failed to implement in full!

We need a radical programme to tackle climate change – not sticking plasters and photo opportunities.

Osborne should have been sacked. He promised a Northern Powerhouse. He gave us a Northern Boathouse.