Andy Burnham should call a cross-party meeting to discuss the UK’s response to worsening extreme weather, including the forthcoming ‘super El Niño’, the Liberal Democrats have said.
The prime minister chaired a Cobra emergency meeting on the drought earlier this month but there has been little from the government on the wider threats posed by five successive heatwaves since May and expected global issues with food shortages and inflation.
Pippa Heylings, the Lib Dem spokesperson for energy security and net zero, said: “Andy Burnham has shown he is able to commit to talking about things people care about, which is good. But there’s been a baffling silence from him on extreme heat. What we have heard so far has been underwhelming. Banning disposable barbecues is good, but we need to see more.”
Heylings and Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, wrote to Burnham a fortnight ago, proposing a meeting of the UK’s party leaders “to discuss the long-term measures needed to protect our country from climate impacts and build resilience to the extreme weather we are already experiencing”. They say they have not had a response.
Heylings contrasted Burnham’s reluctance to address the climate crisis with his prioritising of social care, on which he has called for cross-party support: “We want the same approach [to the climate].”
She said even the leaders of Reform and the Conservatives, both of whom have vowed to scrap net zero and downplayed the climate crisis, should be able to join in an effort to protect the UK. “I think there is not a single MP who would not want to show their constituents they were trying to prepare us [for the impacts of extreme weather],” she said.
The forthcoming El Niño could bring more serious problems, Heylings said. “The scale of this Super El Niño is unprecedented and will have impacts here in the UK exacerbating our extreme weather particularly with more intense flooding and storms over the autumn and winter. We’re looking at a double whammy.”
Any cross-party approach should not be limited to discussing preparedness for extreme weather, she said. “The key question is how do we stop it worsening?”
Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, backed the Lib Dem call for a cross-party meeting. “It’s the kind of politics we need,” he said. “We may disagree on how we do it and how far we go, but political cooperation like this is the start of consensus building, something any radical transition has to build across both political parties and society, especially if they’re to take on those vested interests that want the status quo to continue.”
But Jon Pearce, the Labour MP for High Peak in Derbyshire, warned it was unlikely a meeting would happen.
“The idea the Conservatives and Reform UK would be willing to face up to the risks we face is for the birds,” he said. “The Conservatives and Reform UK have ripped up the political consensus on tackling climate change as they compete to see who can most downplay the need for action.
“They are refusing to see what is right in front of their eyes: wildfires, drought, pressure on water supplies and farmers facing growing challenges on food production. There should be political consensus on a matter of such national importance but sadly there is not.”
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In the past few years, Reform and the Conservatives have broken sharply with the consensus on the need for climate action, despite polls consistently showing a large majority of voters support the idea.
A spokesperson for the Conservatives said: “We wouldn’t speculate on hypothetical talks to which we have not been invited.”
The Reform party did not respond to a request for comment.
Hannah Spencer, a Green party MP, said: “The climate crisis should be a priority across every sector of the economy and every government department. Greens have led this agenda for decades and welcome the consistently strong support shown by voters for all parties for bold climate action.”
A spokesperson for the government said: “The UK continues to be a world leader in tackling the climate crisis, accelerating the transition to clean power, and acting to protect people and places from the impacts of climate change that are already being felt across the country.
“We are working to adapt to the changing climate through our work with the National Drought Group, building nine new reservoirs across the country and investing at least £10.5bn by March 2036 to construct new flood and coastal erosion schemes, as extreme weather becomes more frequent.”
