Britain experienced its hottest June day on record for the second consecutive day on Thursday, as the heatwave that has gripped Europe triggered a sharp rise in medical emergencies and the death of a third young child in France.
The UK’s provisional new high of 36.4C recorded in Yeovilton, Somerset, surpassed Wednesday’s June record of 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, which had itself beaten a peak of 35.6C set in Southampton in 1976, according to the Met Office. A sweltering night in Cardiff broke another heat record, with the temperature only falling to 23.5C – the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in June in the UK.
“UK records hottest June day for second day running as heatwave kills three-year-old in France.”
The extreme conditions prompted the UK Health Security Agency to warn of “significant impacts” on health and social care services and a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. The heat is expected to last until at least Friday.
Across the Channel, the situation is increasingly dire. France’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, announced the health alert level had been raised to its highest, and the health minister, Stéphanie Rist, said authorities were seeing heat-related deaths among “young people who suffer cardiac arrests” as well as the elderly. The ambulance service in Paris recorded four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period, she added, though she stressed there were no confirmed figures.
Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the mortality rate was rising in the capital and urged people not to exercise. “It’s fine to take a couple of days off from exercising,” he said.
A three-year-old boy died after becoming trapped in his family’s car in the suburbs of Paris, public prosecutors said. The child had been thought to be napping but had climbed into the car and been unable to get out after the child locks activated, according to reports. Two other young children died earlier in the week in the southern town of Carpentras, and at least 40 people – many of them young – have drowned in unsupervised swimming areas, Lecornu said.
Switzerland also recorded its hottest June day, with temperatures exceeding 37C for the first time in the month, breaking a record set in 1947. MétéoSuisse reported a reading of 38C at Basel station.
United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said the heatwave bore “the fingerprints of the climate crisis” and called for “a faster shift to renewables, protecting forests and boosting climate resilience”.
Back in the UK, the soaring temperatures have reignited calls for a new workplace law banning work above 25C. A petition on the parliament website urges the government to introduce a legally binding maximum working temperature of 25C for both indoor and outdoor jobs, arguing the current “reasonable comfort” requirement is not clear enough. Patrick Macken, a solicitor at Richard Nelson LLP, said the existing obligation goes “no further than maintaining a ‘reasonable’ temperature” and is “arguably underwhelming and ambiguous.”
If the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the government will respond; 100,000 could trigger a parliamentary debate – but with no legal maximum yet in place, millions of workers remain vulnerable as the mercury climbs.