MINISTERS held an emergency Cobra meeting yesterday over concerns of record high temperatures this week that could put lives at risk.
The Met Office has issued its first red warning for extreme heat for parts of England, with the possibility of 40C being recorded for the first time in the UK.
An amber warning is also in place, which extends to southern Scotland – with temperatures forecast to reach around 29C in areas of Dumfries and Galloway.
No other alerts have been issued for Scotland, although temperatures will soar in some areas, with 30C in Edinburgh and 28C predicted in Glasgow on Tuesday.
Aberdeen and Inverness are expected to see 21C however, while just 18C is predicted for Lerwick, according to the Met Office forecast.
Meteorologists have given an 80% chance of the mercury topping the UK’s record temperature of 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019, with the heatwave set to peak on Tuesday.
Cabinet Office Minister Kit Malthouse chaired the meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee to discuss the escalating heatwave, a Government spokesman has said.
It will be the second Cobra meeting Malthouse has led on the issue.
Labour criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson after reports said he had failed to attend Cobra meetings.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Boris Johnson has gone missing in action again. He’s back to his old tricks of skipping important Cobra meetings.
“Where’s the plan for the delivery of essential services and how people will be kept safe at work, on transport, in schools, hospitals and care homes?
“The public will have no confidence in this zombie Conservative Government responding swiftly and decisively to this national emergency, as this disgraced Prime Minister prepares to party while Britain boils.”
Following the issuing of the Met Office’s first red warning for extreme heat, covering a swathe of England from London to Manchester and York on Monday and Tuesday, its chief executive Penny Endersby said people can find it hard to to know what to expect when “climate change has driven such unprecedented severe weather events”.
“Here in the UK we’re used to treating a hot spell as a chance to go and play in the sun,” she added.
“This is not that sort of weather.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan held a special meeting with key senior officials from agencies including the NHS, the Met Police, London Fire Brigade, London Ambulance Service, councils and Transport for London on Friday to ensure there is a robust plan in place to deal with the level four heat alert.
Khan urged Londoners to only travel if essential on Monday and Tuesday and to prepare for disruption because speed restrictions will be in place on rail and Tube networks.
A high air pollution alert for the city has also been issued by the mayor for Monday.
Today, it could reach 30C in London, with 27C in Cardiff, 24C in Belfast and 23C in Edinburgh.
Temperatures are forecast to increase by several more degrees on Tuesday – up to the mid-30s for much of England and Wales.
There is a 50% chance of temperatures reaching 40C somewhere in the UK, likely along the A1 corridor which runs from London to Scotland through counties including Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and the North East.
The UK Health Security Agency has increased its heat health warning from level three to level four – a “national emergency”.
Level four is reached “when a heatwave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend outside the health and social care system ... at this level, illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups,” it said.
Fire brigades, including Scottish Fire And Rescue, South Wales Fire And Rescue Service, and the London Fire Brigade, have issued safety warnings, urging people to act responsibly.
They have warned people to dispose of barbecues, lit cigarettes and glass bottles responsibly, to not burn any rubbish – such as garden waste – and use local authority services instead, and that barbecues should not be used on balconies or near sheds, fences, trees, shrubs and garden waste to avoid anything catching alight.
