Britain’s climate is shifting rapidly, with heatwaves, intense rainfall and floods now occurring frequently enough to constitute a “new normal”, according to the Met Office’s annual State of the UK Climate report released on 14 July. The study shows the country has warmed by roughly 0.25 °C per decade and is now about 1.24 °C hotter than the 1961-90 baseline, while winter rainfall has risen 16 % over the same benchmark period. The report highlights that the October 2023–March 2024 period was the wettest winter for England and Wales in more than 250 years and that spring 2024 was the warmest ever recorded—records that have already been surpassed in 2025. Sea levels around the UK are also rising faster than the global average; two-thirds of the total increase observed since the early 1900s has occurred in just the past three decades, heightening flood risks for coastal communities. Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband called the findings “a stark warning” and said Britain’s way of life is under threat unless emissions are cut. He plans to deliver the first annual “state of the climate” address to Parliament, pledging to hold lawmakers who oppose net-zero policies to account and to position the UK as a clean-energy leader.