Sir - We all saw the Worcester News reports of our own people who were given no support in the early days of the flooding, and as this event now happens regularly has the time come to take up the UKIP policy of reinstating the Civil Defence volunteers, originally disbanded by the Labour Party in their systematic attempt to leave everything to the state?

A Civil Defence Corps, organized on a county basis, could have ensured people would not have been abandoned for so long, and it was frustrating to see in the media Ravinder Singh and his Sikh volunteers on the Somerset Levels complaining of having had no official point of contact to tell them how best to help.

When we see Worcestershire citizens suffering it is only common sense to say that they must come first, as our obligation is to our compatriots when they are in need and in peril and this must constitute the highest claim on our collective talents and resources.

So,why not use the expertise and goodwill that exists among private citizens by giving them a local place to go to offer their services and find out how they can help?

M. DALEBO

Worcester