UK June heat record broken for third day in a row as ministers urged to act

Plans to protect people fall ‘far short of what is needed’, government told, as MP warns of heatwave deaths

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The UK government is facing increasingly urgent calls for action to protect people against the intensifying effects of the climate crisis, as the highest maximum temperature record for June was broken for the third day in a row.

With the country in the grip of the worst heatwave ever recorded in western Europe – a direct result of global heating – the chair of parliament’s environmental audit committee warned ministers of the urgent threat and said the UK was falling “far short of what is needed”.