CLAIMS the Labour government is deliberately not spending money on flood defences in a Tory area have been denied.

Severe flooding in the Thirsk and Helmsley areas is a major issue in the Tory stronghold of North Yorkshire.

The area has suffered tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage in two flash floods from Cod Beck in the past seven years.

But a proposed Environment Agency study into possible flood defences on Cod Beck was halted due to a lack of funds.

The government body of Defra provides the funding for the Environment Agency to do its work.

The high demand for flood studies nationally was blamed for the delay, of at least three years, on the Cod Beck scheme.

But this has led one North Yorkshire County Councillor to suggest the delay is really down to "political games". Coun Gareth Dadd, the conservative member for Thirsk, says the region is being ignored due to its political stance.

He said: "I want to see a flood defence scheme drawn up and put in place to protect the area.

"But I feel the Labour government, for all its rhetoric, has let the people in this town down and you have to question its political motives."

Prompt action is also wanted by Anne McIntosh MP, the Tory member for the Vale of York.

She has asked the secretary of state for Defra, David Miliband MP, to look into the region's problems.

But a Defra spokesman said: "The Government has spent £4.5bn since 1996-97 on flood defence schemes.

"These schemes are in different areas of England and are done in order of priority and not by -political stance.

"Plus a funding criteria is used to look at social, environmental and economic benefits of a scheme."

Coun Jan Marshall, mayor of Thirsk and the only Labour member of Hambleton District Council, also disagreed.

She said: "Coun Dadd's comments of course don't hold water. York's scheme was also pushed back when it was already designed and ready to go and York has a Labour MP in Hugh Bayley.

"I am sure the staff of Defra and the Environment Agency are following the rules set down."