The UK is experiencing increasingly frequent, longer lasting and more intense heatwaves as a direct consequence of climate change. What was once considered exceptional weather is rapidly becoming the new normal. Every year, extreme heat places growing pressure on the NHS, emergency services, care providers and local authorities, while contributing to preventable illness, hospital admissions and heat-related deaths. Extreme heat is no longer an inconvenience it is a serious and escalating public health emergency that demands urgent Government action.

Those most at risk include older people, disabled people, individuals living with long-term health conditions, pregnant women, young children and people taking medications that affect the body’s ability to regulate temperature. Yet many of these same individuals live in council housing/housing association properties, supported accommodation or other low income households where they have little or no control over keeping their homes at a safe temperature.

Many homes, hospitals and public buildings across the UK were designed and insulated to retain heat during the winter rather than protect occupants from prolonged periods of extreme heat. While this has historically been appropriate for the UK’s climate, it is no longer sufficient. During heatwaves, these buildings can become heat traps, with poor ventilation causing temperatures to rise to dangerous levels and remain unbearably high throughout the night. For many people, there is simply no escape from the relentless heat.

For homeowners with financial means, installing air conditioning or other cooling systems may be an option. However, millions of people living in council/housing association properties do not have the financial resources or the authority to make these improvements themselves. Protection from dangerous indoor temperatures should not depend on a person’s income or housing status. As climate change accelerates, this inequality will place thousands more vulnerable people at unnecessary risk unless decisive action is taken.

Hospitals, care homes, supported living facilities and other services caring for vulnerable people are also being pushed to their limits during periods of extreme heat. Patients, residents and frontline staff are expected to cope in environments that can become dangerously hot, increasing the risk of dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke and other potentially fatal complications. Just as heating is recognised as an essential requirement during winter, effective cooling must now be recognised as an essential safeguard during increasingly severe summers.

I am calling on the UK Government to establish a nationally funded programme to support the installation of air conditioning and other effective cooling measures in council housing-housing association properties, hospitals, care homes, supported living facilities and other settings that care for vulnerable people. This programme should ensure that protection from extreme heat is available to those who need it most, regardless of their financial circumstances.

Climate change is no longer a future threat it is happening now. Every summer brings new temperature records, increasing strain on our health services and growing risks to public health. The Government has a responsibility to ensure that our homes and essential public services are fit for the climate we now live in.

No one should be forced to endure dangerous indoor temperatures simply because they cannot afford to cool their home or because the building they rely on was never designed for today’s climate. Government investment in cooling infrastructure is an investment in public health, equality and resilience. It has the potential to save lives, reduce pressure on the NHS and care services, protect our most vulnerable citizens and help the UK adapt to the realities of a warming world before more preventable lives are lost.