This article was first published on the United Nations Association Coventry Branch website.

In May the Reform UK party won an overwhelming 65 out of 98 seats available in Durham County Council. In July the council passed a motion to rescind a climate emergency declaration made in 2019. Instead they passed a social care pledge.

The BBC reported deputy council leader Darren Grimes who proposed the motion as saying: “We are done with expensive virtue-signalling tripe, and care about our residents…We seek to declare a real care emergency that’s devouring our kids and coffers in tandem.” The Guardian reported Grimes saying the 2019 declaration was “a feel-good” one chasing “net-zero rainbows while the likes of China belch out coal more than Sauron’s Mordor”.

And it’s not just Reform politicians in Durham who don’t believe in climate change. Reform UK mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Andrea Jenkyns, admitted on Times Radio that she doesn’t believe in climate change. Councillors from Reform UK will be urging Wiltshire Council to overturn its climate crisis declaration and net zero targets at a meeting on 22 July. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “My problem with Wiltshire Council – and there are worse – is that they are dabbling in climate change. What the hell does that have to do with providing services?”

Meanwhile scientists estimated that during 10 days at the end of June, high heat killed 2,300 people across 12 major European cities, of which 1,500 deaths were attributed to climate breakdown, which has heated the planet and made the worst extremes even hotter. In addition climate change is driving invasive species such as tiger mosquitoes to become established in 13 European countries, bringing with them increasing numbers of dengue fever cases.

We can only hope that when these and other problems caused by global heating reach Britain, places such as County Durham, Wiltshire and Lincolnshire will be the ones first “rewarded” for electing councillors who “care about our residents”.