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MONTH SWAP SCHEME CRITICISED

A public inquiry will be held into the government’s ill-fated month-swap scheme it has been announced.

What was seen as a final legacy of Tony Blair’s premiership when it was introduced back in April, the month-swap scheme - designed to harmonise weather systems across the year – has led to flooding chaos and a decimated cricket programme.

Opposition ministers and some backbenchers have criticised the move to SWAP April with June with a further option to integrate November into July. An unnamed spokesman for the Conservatives said: "the whole thing was pushed through without enough planning. The result has been a ridiculous summer."

New premier Gordon Brown has sought to distance himself from the fiasco. "Perhaps it was a little imprudent of Tony to introduce the scheme this year. It's easy enough to swap months but you have to have a plan for afterwards."

After Yorkshire was badly hit last month the month-swap scheme has led to widespread and unprecedented flooding this week across much of the Midlands and West Country - with more predicted. "The flooding came about due to April being swapped with June, and then November being swapped with July a few weeks early. This in effect meant that we got April showers mixed with November drizzle for a two week period at the end of the month formerly known as June,” said an environment spokesman. The incident has been blamed on someone else.