The Government can no longer ignore climate change, Christian Aid has warned after a survey found that UK adults see it as a greater cause for concern than even Brexit. 

The poll conducted for the development agency by ComRes found that a majority of adults in the UK (71%) believe that climate change is more pressing in the long run than Brexit.

The findings also suggested that most Brits want the nation's political leaders to be doing more about it, with two thirds agreeing that climate change should be a top priority for Boris Johnson and 61% saying they don't believe that the Government is doing enough about it at present. 

Even in Wales (78%) and the East Midlands (74%), where support for Brexit has typically been strong, most people agreed that climate change was more pressing an issue than Britain's imminent departure from the EU. 

The survey of 2,072 adults, carried out by ComRes, also found that women were more likely to agree that climate change should be a top priority for the Prime Minister - 71% compared to 62% of men. 

Laura Taylor, director of advocacy for Christian Aid, said a "rapid and radical shift" was needed to reduce carbon emissions in the UK.

However, she said that global action was also necessary to ensure climate justice and ongoing support for the most vulnerable communities in the world. 

"As Prime Minister Boris Johnson gets his feet under the table at Number 10, there are a large number of urgent priorities," she said.

"However, it's clear that beyond the present political turmoil, UK adults know there is a bigger crisis which is potentially catastrophic for the whole of humanity – particularly some of the world's poorest people, who are more vulnerable to the effects of this climate emergency."

She warned that with the UK increasingly experiencing extreme weather patterns, the problem could no longer be ignored.

"These patterns are even more exacerbated in other parts of the world, where droughts, floods and storms are wreaking havoc, costing lives and seeing millions of pounds of damage each year," she said. 

"The pervasive impact of climate change on everyone – and particularly those in the communities in which Christian Aid works – means we cannot ignore it.

"The UK public is waking up to the devastating effects of the climate emergency – it's time the UK Government did so too."