VALENCIA regional president Carlos Mazon resigned yesterday after a year of protests demanding it.

Mr Mazon acknowledged making “mistakes” in responding to devastating floods on October 29 last year that left more than 200 people dead.

Calls for the right-wing Popular Party politician’s head began within days as it emerged the regional authorities had not issued warnings about the floods until 8pm that day, two hours after they began and over 12 after it had received a red alert warning that they were coming from the Spanish weather agency.

Mr Mazon was accused by unions of having delayed the warnings as a concession to businesses which did not want to give staff the day off.

He said yesterday he would live with his failure for the rest of his life, but denied it was down to “political calculation or bad faith.”

He took a swipe at Spain’s left-wing coalition government too, saying he hoped his resignation would rid it of excuses to “drag its feet” over helping Valencia recover.