Responding to reports from the Met Office that temperatures today surpassed 20 degrees for the first time on record, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said:

"I like spending an afternoon in the sunshine as much as anyone, but it's impossible to shake the feeling that this isn't right. After last year's unprecedented global heatwave and last month's deadly temperatures in Australia, our baseline perception of what's normal is shifting.

"We are living through climate breakdown - and instead of taking urgent action, ministers carry on as if nothing has changed. The Government must wake up to this crisis, urgently declare a climate emergency and introduce a Green New Deal to provide a green job to everyone who wants one and transform our economy to prevent climate catastrophe."