Ed Miliband warns Britain 'way of life' under threat by major issue

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said Britain’s way of life is “under threat” from climate change as extreme weather becomes the norm.

The Met Office’s UK climate report, released today (MON), said heat and rainfall extremes are becoming commonplace for the UK.

The country's climate is “notably different” from just a few decades ago, experts added.

For the first time, the yearly report also found UK sea levels to be rising faster than the global average.

Britain is also getting wetter, with extremes of rainfall, floods and storms in 2024.

England and Wales had the wettest winter from October 2023 to March 2024 on record in more than 250 years, as floods hit Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands and eastern Scotland.

The Energy Secretary called the findings “a stark warning” to take action on climate and nature.

Mr Miliband said: “Our British way of life is under threat.”

“Whether it is extreme heat, droughts, flooding, we can see it actually with our own eyes, that it’s already happening, and we need to act.

“That’s why the Government has a central mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and tackle the climate crisis.”

But Labour has been slammed by campaigners over its approach to the environment, including concerns around planning reforms sidelining nature in pursuit of growth.

Kathryn Brown, director of climate change and evidence at The Wildlife Trusts, said: “This report clearly reinforces that climate change is bringing more frequent extreme weather events to our doorsteps – from heatwaves and droughts to floods and storms.

“Nature has a critical role to play in helping to safeguard homes, businesses and livelihoods from these harms, underpinning our resilience to climate change with huge financial savings.

"As we're already seeing, the effects of climate change on UK wildlife are deeply concerning. From swifts dropping out of the sky during heatwaves to trees flowering much earlier than they have in the past, we are particularly worried about the effects of droughts on our nature reserves.”

Last year was the fourth warmest in records dating back to 1884, while the year had the warmest May and warmest spring on record – already beaten by 2025’s record hot spring.

Meanwhile amber heat health alerts have been issued multiple times this summer already, with temperatures well above 30C across the UK.

Records for 2024 show that spring was earlier than average for 12 of the 13 spring events monitored, and the earliest in the data running back to 1999 for frogspawn appearing and blackbirds nesting.

The period of the year in which leaves were on trees from spring to autumn was also longer than average, mostly because of the earlier spring in 2024.

Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said the report reinforced the “clear and urgent signals of our changing climate”.