Defra announced another cash injection for flood defence spending in the wake of severe flooding across the South of England in late 2013 and earlier this month, and after figures published quietly last week revealed that the amount spent on flood protection under the current government has fallen due to budget cuts.

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On Friday (17th January), local government minister Brandon Lewis announced a further funding package of £6.7 million for local authorities affected by recent flooding and severe weather. According to Defra, the recovery fund unveiled by Lewis would go towards repairing damage caused to houses, businesses, transport infrastructure and agriculture by the east coast tidal surge in December.

The environment department also revealed that the government is "spending £2.3 billion on tackling the risk of flooding and coastal erosion" and is currently engaged in assessing the costs of repairing flood defences damaged by the extreme weather. The spending figures, released on Thursday, show that direct funding allocations over the current four-year period (2011-2015) have dropped, rather than risen as both the environment secretary and Prime Minister had previously claimed.

Spending was slightly higher during the last period at £2.37 billion, compared to £2.34bn now. Defra secretary Owen Paterson had previously stated that the Coalition government has spent more on flood defence measures than any previous government.

Defra maintains that extra funding, being made available through public-private partnerships, will edge total spending on flood defences higher than the previous government's total. Mr Lewis said on Friday, "I have been hugely impressed by the efforts of the emergency services, local authorities, voluntary organisations and communities through the recent severe weather and now we are helping areas to recover and see life return to normal. This extra £7 million that can be used to help affected communities, will provide local authorities and their partner agencies additional resources they need to support recovery."

The government's critics, on the other hand, accused ministers of misleading the public over the amount being spent on flooding; the revelations come shortly after government advisors suggested flood spending in the UK may need to be doubled to cope with threats posed by the effects of climate change. Critics also said the government had included in its figures for flood spending millions of pounds expected to come from private contributions.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Guy Shrubsole said on Thursday, "whichever way you look at the figures the Coalition Government is cutting spending on flooding." The environment group has released information showing that spending on flooding has been cut in real terms since the Labour government left office.

Defra's Mr Paterson also caused controversy earlier in the month when he refused to endorse a statement made by Prime Minister David Cameron regarding recent flooding. The Prime Minister had said he "suspected" that recent severe weather events in the UK could be linked to climate change. When asked about the statement during Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Paterson – who is widely believed to be a climate change denier – avoided the question; his response was greeted with laughter from the opposition benches.

Commenting on last week's revelations, shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said, "It is humiliating for David Cameron and Owen Paterson that they have finally been forced to reveal that spending on flood protection was not protected when cuts to the Environment Department's budget were made. The Prime Minister must now stop repeating his misleading claim that more is being spent in the current four year period than in the previous four years when these new figures reveal that is simply not true. The Government should also stop including money that they hope to attract from external contributions but have so far failed to secure."