This long, hot summer has brought our third drought in five years and the driest July in almost two centuries. We’ve seen wildfires burn down homes and now face the risk of flash floods as we move into autumn. It should be a wake-up call for those saying that concerns about the climate crisis are overblown; that we should simply sit back and do nothing; or row back on attempts to restore our natural environment. As the new environment secretary, I won’t let that happen.

No one who has experienced this summer in the UK should be in any doubt that our climate is already changing. We know the future holds warmer, wetter winters, hotter, drier summers, and more extreme weather.

Honesty about what is required to deal with this changing reality is the least we should expect from our politicians. But last week we saw an astonishing response from Reform UK’s deputy leader, who told people to “enjoy” the scorching heatwaves and described this government’s efforts to combat the climate crisis as “arrogant”.

This response........

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