PM vows never to let current flooding situation happen again, saying UK 'has to do better' in face of abnormal weather events

David Cameron convened a special cabinet committee on flooding for the first time on Thursday, when ministers were given an update on the extent of power and transport disruption caused by overnight storms.

The meeting had originally been called to discuss a longer-term government response to the floods crisis, but is also having to look at wider infrastructure disruption.

The meeting came as the shadow environment secretary, Maria Eagle, said spending on climate change adaptation and mitigation had been cut by 40% in the past year, a figure that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had revealed in a freedom of information request. The environment minister was forced to admit that spending had been cut in the UK from £29.1m to £17.2m this year.

In a round of BBC regional radio interviews on Thursday morning, David Cameron pledged that he would not let the current flooding situation happen again, saying Britain "has to do better" in the face of abnormal weather events.

With warnings of more bad weather on the way, the prime minister admitted the UK's preparation for the storms and response to the flooding had not been good enough.

"We cannot let this situation happen again. Of course you get these abnormal weather events but we've got to do better as a country," he told BBC Somerset.

He also indicated he would talk to train companies about waiving rules on sitting in first-class carriages to ease overcrowding in some areas hit by rail disruption and encourage energy companies to be "socially responsible" about charges for those affected by the bad weather.

Pressed on more money for flood defences and dredging, the prime minister could not commit to firm plans but promised to look at what could be done "as the water comes down".

He criticised an "anti-dredging culture" that grew up in the Environment Agency in the 1990s, saying the practice now "has to be part of the picture" to prevent flooding.

He also appeared to contradict claims from the Environment Agency that spending rules prevented it from giving the go-ahead to some flood protection schemes.

Asked about delays to relief efforts, Cameron urged communities not to think twice about picking up the phone to bring in reinforcements from the military.

On Wednesday, Major General Patrick Sanders, assistant chief of the defence staff, said the military was trying to be "more proactive, rather than being reactive", following criticism in some areas about the length of time it had taken for troops to get involved.

"It's a really complicated problem in the face of an almost unparalleled natural crisis," he said. "We're already closely involved but there's much more we can do across the country. We stand ready to serve, whether that's specialist support, sandbags, relieving hard-stretched agencies."

Around 1,600 military personnel are on the ground dealing with the floods, with a further 500 on standby, to provide additional manpower and some specialist support. Another 3,000 troops are ready to act, including those from the navy and the Royal Air Force.

Sanders defended the role of the military, saying they had arrived in areas of need within a couple of hours of requests for help. "There is more we can do and we want to do more, so please use us," he said.

No 10 also said councils should not charge for sandbags after originally saying it was a matter for them to decide.

Cameron, speaking on BBC radio in the south-west, said energy companies should consider telling flood-hit customers that they would be forgiven part of their bills.

The figure showing a reduction in spending on climate change adaptation was provided in response to a freedom of information request to Lord Lawson, a sceptic on climate change. But the environment minister Dan Rogerson said the overall figure, including spending overseas, showed an increase.

Eagle also pressed ministers to stop the cuts in flood defence, but ministers insisted that over the past four years compared with the previous four years capital spending was on the rise.

The exchanges came as politicians including Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg prepared to visit the south-west to see the floods.

Clegg, the deputy prime minister, appearing on LBC's Call Clegg programme, said he had made no visits to flood-hit areas without first checking with local gold command that his visit would be worthwhile.

He defended the decision not to raid the overseas aid budget, and transfer some money to flood defences. He said: "It is not an either/or choice between helping the poorest and helping people here in Britain that need help.

"It would be a false saving. We would be taking from one to another, but we would all end up worse off. I totally accept at a time of austerity there has been a constant debate about where priorities are."

He said he did not want to take one side or another about dredging, saying he supported it where it made a difference. He said with hindsight it was a mistake that rivers in the Somerset Levels were not dredged for many years.

In the Commons, environment ministers came under pressure to explain how flood insurance schemes would work in the future, including suggestions that premiums would rise by as much as 5% once the flooding crisis was over.

The government is introducing a cross-subsidy scheme called "flood re" that is designed to raise a small levy on those living in low flood-risk areas to keep down the premiums of those living in high-risk areas.

Rogerson said that before the new scheme comes into force in 2015, insurance firms have made a commitment under a 2008 statement of principles not to decline cover for those who have house insurance at present.

But the shadow environment minister Barry Gardiner said the new scheme took no account of the fact that the risk of flooding had extended to hundreds of thousands more homes.

The new scheme, according to the British Property Federation, excludes as many as 5m households in flood-risk areas including leaseholders, any house built after 2008, the private rented sector, council tenants and anyone living in a house in council tax band H.