GETTY • PA Nearly £6bn is given overseas to fight climate change but only £2.3bn is spent on UK flood defences

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The Tory minister has told MPs devastating floods in Cumbria over the weekend were likely to be linked to global climate change. Around 5,000 homes and businesses were submerged after a month's worth of rain fell in the county in just one day on Saturday, with many families facing the prospect of being homeless for Christmas. Amid the misery, critics have been left wondering why billions of pounds of taxpayers' cash is being handed over to foreign countries for their own efforts in combating climate change when it dwarfs spending on the UK's flood defences.

Spending on the International Climate Fund (ICF) over the next five years is set to reach £5.8bn, with at least £1.7bn committed to being spent in 2020. The planned funding, which comes from the Government's soaring foreign aid budget, will reach nearly double the amount spent on the ICF over the previous parliament. By contrast, ministers are planning to spend only £2.3bn protecting British households from floods until the next general election. ICF spending has seen cash spent on drought-resistant crops in Kenya, solar panels in India and flood-enduring rice in Bangladesh.

PA Thousands of homes were submerged over the weekend

The Government is investing more in building new flood defences. We're investing £2.3bn over this parliament. Environment Secretary Liz Truss

Tackled over why money was being spent abroad rather than in the UK, Ms Truss claimed the cash was needed to combat the threat from brutal jihadists such as Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). She told BBC Radio 4 Today's programme: "It's important to spend money through international development and through our defence [budget] to protect our security. "That's important in combating ISIL and other threats we face and it's also important to invest in our flood defences to protect us from extreme weather events. "Both of those things are important, it's not an 'either or' choice. "We need to invest in both to protect the security of every person in this country." But critics claimed residents in Cumbria would be "utterly appalled" to learn more than twice the sum spent on flood defences was being sent abroad.

PA David Cameron visited the worst-hit areas yesterday

The government should divert some of the ballooning foreign aid budget to help those affected by #StormDesmond. — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 8, 2015

Liz Truss [GETTY]

Nathan Gill, Ukip's spokesman for international development, said: “Every time we see major flooding in the UK we are told it is unprecedented and little could have been done to help. I totally disagree. "It seems utterly wrong that the Government is spending almost twice as much money on ‘environmental’ aid abroad as it does on protecting people against severe weather in the UK. "Recent patterns show that increasing numbers of houses have been built on flood plains and there is a growing propensity for flash floods due in part to urbanisation." Ms Truss also denied claims spending on the country's flood defences had been cut, despite figures showing funding was slashed by more than £100m compared to last year. The Government has set aside £695million for dealing with flooding and erosion in England this year, which is £116m less than the previous year. This is the biggest year-on-year fall since 2011/12.

The South West Norfolk MP, who visited Carlisle yesterday, added: "The Government is investing more in building new flood defences. We're investing £2.3bn over this parliament. "For the first time ever we've got a six-year programme where that funding is committed so people can plan ahead. "What that will mean is over the course of the next six years an additional 300,000 homes will be protected. "It represents a real-terms increase in what we spent in the last parliament, which itself is a real-terms increase on what was spent by the government in 2005 to 2010. "So we are stepping up our spending on flood defence capital."

GETTY The rise of ISIS has been blamed on climate change