The “scorcher” is no more. Gone is the jolly tabloid celebration of hot sunny days, Brits with their kit off, silly season stories about feral seagulls. Instead, our summer months bring news of locals displaced and tourists fleeing wildfires on the continent, UK “firewaves”, and gasping-hot days every few weeks.
The climate conversation – beyond energy security – has slipped down every political party’s list of priorities in recent years. This is as voters, too, worry far more about money, immigration and healthcare than they do about the planet. It feels like a a long time ago that the environment was one of the top three voter concerns, when the global climate summit Cop26 was held in Glasgow in 2021, and during severe floods back in 2019.
But the heat is always front of mind: it affects our health, sleep and work, our childcare arrangements and leisure plans. This has a political impact. As the fourth heatwave this summer grips Britain, the majority of voters say they feel more fearful for the future because of the temperatures they’ve experienced this year.
More than 50 per cent of all Brits say they are more fearful for what’s to come in the future, and more than 48 per cent explicitly feel more anxious about climate change, according to polling by Survation for Climate Outreach and Round Our Way (groups focusing on how climate change affects day-to-day life in Britain).
Even as the Conservative Party denounces its own policy of net zero targets, and Reform UK flirts with “denialist” stances on climate change, their supporters are worried. Tory and Reform-leaning voters are more likely to agree than disagree that the recent heat has made them more fearful for the future.
Fifty-seven per cent of Labour voters, 53 per cent of Conservative voters and 45 per cent of Reform voters say heatwaves make them more fearful for the future. And 58 per cent of Labour voters, 48 per cent of Conservatives and 33 per cent of Reform voters say they make them feel more anxious about climate change.
As extreme heat across the UK and familiar holiday destinations for Brits in Europe spark unprecedented wildfires, voters have yet to hear the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s take on tackling the climate crisis. Hints have been made that he will take a different stance on North Sea oil and gas from the previous administration, and allow drilling at sites that have already been licensed.
But with the Green Party putting less emphasis on its environmental agenda, and the Lib Dems focusing on river pollution and other local concerns about the natural environment, there is a political risk in failing to address the fears of Britain’s melting electorate.
The polling of 10,014 respondents was carried out by Survation on 22-27 July 2026.