Cutting the overseas aid budget in order to spend money on flood defences would be a false economy, the shadow chancellor has said.

John McDonnell warned that much of the spending send to developing countries was targeted at helping them green their economies and that it was already playing a role in preventing future flooding.

“If you look at a lot of the money that we’re spending overseas it is to tackle climate change,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We’re tackling the issue at source – we’re reducing dependency on fossil fuels. If we do that it would be a short-term saving but a long-term cost.”

Mr McDonnell said the problem was that spending on flood defences had not been consistent across governments.

He called for all political parties to sign up to a long-term spending plan drawn up by experts in concert with local authorities who knew their at-risk areas best.

“We’ve got to take this issue beyond party politics. People don’t want to hear party-political knockabout from this,” he said.

“We cannot be a situation where there’s this stop-start approach to investment.”

In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Show all 17 1 /17 In Pictures: Floods hit the UK In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Members of Cleveland Mountain Rescue and soldiers from 2 Battalion The Duke of Lancasters Regiment evacuating people from the Queens Hotel in York city centre as the River Ouse floods on December 27, 2015 In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Teams in Whalley evacuate villagers from their homes In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A resident of Glenridding, which flooded for the third time this month, surveys the damage In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK The River Ouse, York, has burst its banks In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A soldier from the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Lancaster’s regiment helps to sure up flood defences in Appleby, Cumbria, one of the areas worst affected by the floods In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Experts believe the cost of clearing up the most recent flooding could exceed £50m (PA) In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes in York In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A police helicopter photographed the extent of the flooding in York on 27 December. In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooding at Clifford's Tower in York on 27 December In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooding along York's Inner Ring Road on 27 December In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Water runs out of the Lowther pub in York on 27 December after the River Ouse bursts its banks in York city centre. In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooded streets in Dumfries, Scotland on 30 December Getty In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A car left submerged in floodwater in Newton Stewart, Scotland PA In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Staff at the Worlds End bar in Dumfries Scotland desperately try to pump floodwater out of the building PA In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A man stands in the doorway of his cottage in the flooded town of Straiton in Scotland PA In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooding in the village of Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Man wades through floodwater outside a fish and chip shop in Dumfries, Scotland PA

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk this weekend called for development aid to be cut and diverted to flood defence spending .

"Why do we spend money in Bangladesh when it needs spending in Great Britain?” he said.

“What we need to do is to sort out the problems which are occurring here and not focus so much on developing countries. That has to be our priority."

Mr McDonnell’s overall fiscal plans do not restrict investment in infrastructure and under them he would not have to cut money from elsewhere in order to increase spending on flood defences.

He has argued that such investments pay for themselves in the long run.

George Osborne has however pledged to also rein in capital spending as part of his overall surplus target and would have to cut money from elsewhere in order to boost provision and stay within his targets.

A House of Commons Library note published in November 2014 found that spending on flood defences during the last Labour government – between 1997 and 2010 – increased by three quarters in real terms.

It however said central government spending from 2010 onwards had been cut by around 20 per cent compared to the previous spending period.