These heatwaves show leadership cannot mean stepping back from climate action
(Jeffrey Blackler / Alamy)
4 min read
The UK is in the throes of our second significant heatwave of the year. It is still early summer. That fact alone ought to give us pause.
We are a country whose infrastructure, public services and daily rhythms were built for drizzle, not temperature spikes that strain hospitals, halt transport systems and leave elderly and vulnerable people at risk. And yet, these extremes are becoming familiar. The danger lies not only in the rising heat, but in the creeping normalisation that follows – the sense that this is simply our new weather, something to be endured rather than addressed.
This should not be the case. Moments like this should remind us that climate change is not an abstract, distant threat, but a reality shaping life here in Britain today. From parched fields in the East of England to overheating classrooms and overstretched water systems, the impacts are tangible and unevenly felt. Those with the least – poorly insulated homes, insecure work, fragile health – bear the brunt.
And yet, at precisely the moment when seriousness is most needed, there are growing calls to look the other way. To dilute commitments. To reframe climate policy as an optional extra rather than a central pillar of national resilience. This is simply not a grown-up response to a serious problem.
The role of government is not to chase the easiest argument or yield to the loudest pressure. It is to weigh evidence, act in the national interest, and take responsibility for the long term. Climate change tests all three of these duties. Because while it might sometimes be politically convenient to question the scale of the challenge, or to downplay the urgency of action, the consequences of doing so will not be distributed evenly – and they will not be undone easily.
There is a temptation, particularly in an overheated political environment, to frame climate action as a burden. That framing is as misleading as it is short-sighted. The real burden is the cost of inaction: the damage to infrastructure, the hit to productivity, the strain on public services, and, most importantly, the toll on human lives. There is no better example of this than our privatised water system. Successive governments have failed to grip the issue, trusting the market to take the reins and make long-term decisions for the benefit of the public. As a consequence, we are now dangerously exposed when it comes to water resilience and quality.
We need a government that understands that climate policy is economic policy, health policy, and security policy. That investing in the green transition is not simply a moral choice, but a practical one, shielding us from international shocks and creating jobs in communities that have too often been left behind.
This requires honesty. There will be trade-offs. There will be decisions that cannot please everyone. But leadership is about making those decisions anyway – with clarity, fairness and a sense of shared purpose.
We cannot afford any pretence that we can simply step back from climate commitments. Nor can we indulge the illusion that short-term political gain outweighs long-term national risk. Those urging such paths may offer simplicity, but it is a false simplicity: one that masks, rather than resolves, the challenges ahead.
People understand, instinctively, that the world is changing. They see it in the weather, in the news, and in their own lives. Last summer, the hottest on record, the country recorded more than 1,500 heat associated deaths. The public know they can’t ignore this. What they ask for, rightly, is a plan that matches the scale of the problem and distributes both the costs and benefits fairly.
This heatwave should serve as a reminder of what is at stake. A country that treats such warnings with complacency will find itself on the back foot, reacting to crises rather than preparing for them. A country that meets them with seriousness, however, has the opportunity not only to protect itself, but to lead.
Alistair Strathern is the Labour MP for Hitchin
