TORY Party leader David Cameron will break with Parliamentary tradition next week to lead a debate on flooding in his Witney constituency.

In a highly unusual move for a party leader, Mr Cameron has secured one of a handful of slots normally allotted to backbench MPs for a debate in Westminster Hall.

Mr Cameron, who suffered heavy criticism for travelling to Rwanda on a long-planned trip last July rather than staying behind in West Oxfordshire as water levels rose, will force the plight of his constituents, many of whom are still suffering from the effects of the floods, back up the political agenda.

Wednesday's half-hour debate is sandwiched between debates on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Green Belt.

After Mr Cameron has given his personal view on the subject for about 20 minutes, a minister will respond with the Government's position.

Mr Cameron's spokesman said: "He wants to talk about the issues raised by the flooding and make sure that things are learned from it.

"He wants to help people in Witney and to make sure it's still on people's radar."

The move was welcomed by Barry Norton, leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, who said: "We want to give this a higher profile because there's a sense among a number of people who were flooded out that the process of preventing this happening again is very slow.

"People are coming up against red tape and we want to highlight this."