Why is there a magic money tree for Johnson and Hunt, but not for the Environment Agency?

Last week’s strike shows austerity has to end.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 14: Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman poses with an injured dog as she visits RSPCA's Harmsworth Memorial Animal Hospital on February 14, 2018 in London, England. The Labour Party has announced a series of new animal welfare policies, including a ban on live animal exports for slaughter, an end to the badger cull and a new legal right for residential tenants to keep pets. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Environment Agency staff starting industrial action last week can only have looked on with bemusement at the Conservative leadership candidates vying with each other to see who can shake the magic money tree the hardest.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are pledging more and more public money to mitigate the impact of a man-made disaster: no-deal Brexit. Meanwhile the public servants who protect us from natural calamities such as flooding have had a pay cut of nearly 20 per cent since 2010.