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Polling by YouGov – carried out in mid-August after the UK’s summer of five record-breaking heatwaves – shows only a quarter want to see another heatwave (25%), while two-thirds of people are hoping it ‘does not happen’ (65%).
The polling comes the same week Richard Tice of Reform drew criticism for telling people to “enjoy” the heat, to reap it’s benefits (such as British winemaking), while suggesting that the only way to respond to climate change is to adapt.
This, along with the new polling, spotlights how heatwaves have become another politically divisive issue.
While a sizeable number of Reform voters do not hope for more heat (48%), they are by far the most likely group to say they are hoping for another heatwave (42%). The rest of the political spectrum do not share this view (just 21% of Labour and 12% of Green voters agree, for instance).
More than 40,000 extra people died on England’s hottest days between 1988 and 2025 compared with what would be expected in normal temperatures, according to new ONS data.
Deaths from high heat are expected to keep climbing as climate change and an ageing population combine, with older people, children and the unwell most at risk.
The strain has been visible across the health system: A&E departments saw their busiest period on record, with almost 2.5 million attendances a month in May, June and July, with record-breaking heat cited as a key factor. Nurses reported collapsing on shift amid what their union called “inhumane and impossible” conditions.
YouGov’s long-term data tracking shows an uptick in the belief that ‘the environment’ is one of the UK’s most important issues, amidst a summer of unprecedented heat, fires and drought. Although this increase does not match high points across the trend line, or the impact of summer heat episodes between 2022-2024.
The importance Britons placed on ‘the environment’ rose +11% across this summer – from 14% on the 4th May (pre-heatwaves) to a peak of 25% on the 17th of August, before dropping slightly again to 23% on the 24th of August.
These shifts have been particularly noticeable amongst Lib Dem supporters (+17%, from 23% to 40% in the same period), Labour supporters (+15%, from 22% to 37%) and women (+14%, from 15% to 29%).
This data follows a piece by YouGov published after the June summer heatwave, which suggested that the heat had not impacted people’s climate opinions or actions, despite 71% believing the heatwave was likely to have been caused by climate change.
While this certainly appeared true at the time – the latest data suggests this piece may have been premature in catching the full effects of the extreme heat on environmental salience this summer (especially when previous weather extremes have led to spikes in issue salience data).
