UK's way of life 'under threat' as extreme weather becomes the norm Ed Miliband says

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain’s way of life is “under threat” from climate change as the Met Office said extremes of heat and rainfall are becoming the norm.

The latest state of the UK climate report, published in the Royal Meteorological Society’s International Journal of Climatology, shows the impact of human-caused global warming on the UK’s weather, seas, people and wildlife.

From earlier spring events in nature to record warm periods in 2024, which have already been beaten again this year, Met Office experts say the UK’s climate is “notably different” from just a few decades ago.

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The report details the climate in 2024, and over the longer term, highlighting how the UK has warmed at a rate of about 0.25C a decade and is now about 1.24C warmer than from 1961 to 1990.

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

On those who oppose Labour’s green policies, he said: “Unless, we act on the cause of what is happening, the cause of what is changing our climate, then we will be betraying future generations.”

One year in, Labour has been fiercely criticised over its approach to the environment, including concerns around planning reforms sidelining nature in pursuit of growth. The Environment Secretary defended the Government’s actions, pointing to boosting funding for sustainable farming and developing the nature restoration fund so that money from house builders goes towards more impactful landscape-scale projects.

“We’d become one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth,” he said. “This Government is calling time on that decline.”

Elsewhere, the report said that the last three years have been in the top five warmest on record for the UK.

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. But Mike Kendon, Met Office climate scientist and lead author of the report, said: “It’s the extremes of temperature and rainfall that is changing the most, and that’s of profound concern, and that’s going to continue in the future.”

The hottest summer days have warmed about twice as much as average summer days have in the past decade in some parts of the UK, according to new analysis in the report. Chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, Professor Liz Bentley, said the report reinforced the “clear and urgent signals of our changing climate”.