Diana calls for flood cash payout

3.20.19pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 20th Jun 2008

The BBC reports that the government is coming under pressure to pass on the full total of EU aid to parts of the UK affected by flooding last summer.

The European Commission promised the UK about £110m from the EU's Solidarity Fund - cash set aside for member states to apply for after a natural disaster.

But a funding deal agreed by Mrs. Thatcher's government in 1984 means the payout will actually be only £31m.

Diana Wallis, Lib Dem MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, says it is unfair and said the UK should receive the full £110m.

Speaking on BBC's Look North, she said: "I think it's absolutely vital, both in terms of the help it gives to infrastructure in the region but also in the sense of solidarity, sense of caring.

"If you get a sense that you are being offered something and then it's being taken away that doesn't do much for trust in government at any level."

More of Diana's interview will be featured on BBC Look North this evening, Friday, from 6.30pm