This is the text of a written question submitted by Nick Griffin MEP this morning in Strasbourg.

“Recent flood damage in Southern Scotland and my Constituency of NW England has been estimated at GBP50-100m by the Association of British Insurers. Devastation has been wrought to the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, where 900 homes and businesses have been affected, the ramifications of which will be detrimental for years. Roads, bridges and infrastructure have been decimated.

“In 2008, the UK contributed GBP 14.6bn, gross, to the European Union budget, ie GBP 27,778 per minute (source: reply of UK government minister Lord McKenzie of Luton, 8.2.06, denoting UK contribution to EU budget for 2008, Hansard).

“What emergency financial assistance, from the funds contributed to the EU by the British people, will the EU provide to the communities affected, or does the Commission believe that it is more important to develop new infrastructure in the member countries of the Mediterranean and Central Europe, at the expense of the UK taxpayer?”