Flooding affecting south-west England and along the Thames Valley should provide a “sharp reminder” even to climate change sceptics of the risk of flooding, a former Conservative environment secretary has warned.

Caroline Spelman told the Guardian that today’s climate was a consequence of what had happened twenty years ago – and that the UK must adapt to the changes that she said were still to come.

“This flooding is a sharp reminder that everyone, sceptic or not, has to think about the risk of flooding, whatever they think causes it,” she said. “We need to adapt. What is happening now relates to what we were doing two decades ago [in increasing greenhouse gas emissions].”

The debate over tackling climate change had become “muddied”, the former minister added, and criticised politicians for using the term “global warming” because it confuses people into thinking that climate change will result in warmer weather, rather than an increase in extreme weather such as higher rainfall.

Spelman, who was environment secretary between 2010 and 2012, also defended the embattled Environment Agency for its work in flood protection.



The agency has come under fire from some Conservatives and farmers for allegedly failing to protect flood-prone areas, including the Somerset levels where severe flooding has caused devastation.



Spelman, who was replaced by Owen Paterson in September 2012, experienced several incidents of severe flooding during her tenure.

She told the Guardian: “One of the things that is good about the Environment Agency is that it has empowered operatives on the ground to make decisions based on local circumstances, rather than waiting for someone on high to tell them what to do. They are an emergency service.”



She also praised the Met Office, which she said was “best in the world” when it comes to weather and flood forecasting. “I gave the Met Office extra money for supercomputing, which has allowed forecasting models to operate with pinpoint accuracy. Within hours [before it occurred] they could tell where a cloudburst would happen. That definitely has saved lives.”



She said that when she visited flooded areas as environment secretary “householders had nothing but praise for the Environment Agency”. She added: “I think the Environment Agency did a very good job in my time.”

She also defended spending on flood protection, saying that the previous Labour government had planned a 50% cut in capital spending that would have hurt defences, but that in office she had reversed this decision and received the support of the Treasury in doing so. “The return on investment on flood defence spending is very high – £8 for every £1 spent. That is why people and property get protected over farmland –the economics dictate that.”



But she said people and authorities in rural areas could form partnerships with business to gain access to higher levels of funding.



Spelman, a self-confessed “Green Conservative”, denied that green Toryism was under threat. “It’s all in the name: Conservatives. We are about conservation,” she said.

Some politicians, including the former environment secretary Lord Deben, have warned that green issues are slipping down the party’s agenda. Two Tories with a strong interest in the environment – Tim Yeo, chair of the energy and climate change select committee, and Anne McIntosh, chair of the environment, food and rural affairs committee – have been deselected by their local parties, amid speculation that one factor was that their green concerns were not popular among their constituency organisations.



Spelman, who is MP for Meriden in the West Midlands, said the chancellor George Osborne had shown his support for the environmental agenda by founding the Green Investment Bank with £3bn of public money.

Later this month, Spelman will join a group of legislators from around the world in calling for governments to enact national laws on tackling climate change. The meeting on 27 February in New York has been called by Globe, a body that brings together backbenchers from parliaments across developed and developing countries to campaign on climate change.