More than half of all Brits more fearful for the future after summer of heatwaves – new polling
More than 50% of Brits say they are more fearful for what’s to come in the future, and more than 48% feel more anxious about climate change, in a summer where some parts of the UK enter their fourth heat wave today, according to polling from Survation with Climate Outreach and Round Our Way, released today and featured in The New Statesman.
This overall trend holds across voters of the five major political parties, including those intending to vote Conservative and Reform UK, with more people agreeing than disagreeing that the recent heat has made them more fearful and also more anxious about climate change. Nearly 58% of those who currently say they will vote Labour agree that the heatwaves have made them feel more anxious about climate change as well as 48% of Conservative Voters and 33% of Reform voters.When it comes to heatwaves making people feel more fearful for the future 57% of Labour voters, 53% of Conservatives voters and 45% of Reform voters said that it did.
The research also finds that 51% of people feel that it’s more important for the Government and businesses to tackle climate change, in light of the heatwaves – this holds across the political spectrum with 61% of Labour’s 2024 voters agreeing as well as 35% of those who intend to vote for Reform.
As heatwaves across the UK and Europe have sparked unprecedented wild fires, the Prince of Wales called them a “stark reminder of the challenges posed by an increasingly extreme climate” whilst the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the fires as “the most painful expression of a climate emergency”. New PM Andy Burnham has yet to set out how addressing climate change will be a priority for his government.
Rachael Orr, CEO of Climate Outreach said:
“Heatwave after heatwave this summer has made us all think about our changing climate and the impact it’s having. The good news is that we have the solutions – what we need now is cross party political leadership to implement them. The new PM has yet to set out how addressing climate change will be a priority for his Government. This research shows that people are eager to hear from him on this vital issue.
Sofie Jenkinson, Co-Director of Round Our Way, said: “After months of extreme heat across the UK, as wildfires continue to burn across the country, and we head into our fourth heatwaves of the Summer, it has never been clearer that we are not prepared for the impacts of climate change in the UK. More than a thousand schools shut their doors because of the heat in June, with kids missing more than 7 million school days across the country. We all deserve to be safe as the impacts of climate change continue and so we need to see more political action on adapting our country to the climate we now have, as well as continued investment to bring down emissions and ensure that the impacts we are seeing don’t get increasingly worse in years to come.”