Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said Britons should be resilient enough to ‘enjoy the sunshine’ over the coming days as MPs doubled down on advice warning schools not to close. 

The country is bracing for searing Heat as an amber heat warning comes into effect today – before the first-ever red warning for extreme heat is implemented tomorrow.

Britain could be hotter than Delhi and the Sahara Desert on Monday with experts predicting the mercury could reach 41C – double the UK summer average. Peterborough is expected to hit 37C and Milton Keynes, Norwich and Lincoln set to hit 36C – while temperatures could hit 40C in London on Tuesday.

But Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson today said children should remain in school, telling Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: ‘I think children have missed out quite a lot already in terms of their education and it’s right for them to be there.’

Britain’s transport network looks set to grind to a halt, with the boss of Transport for London today urging Londoners to undertake only necessary travel on Monday and Tuesday. Avanti West Coast told passengers to travel only if it is ‘absolutely necessary’ from Sunday until Tuesday while London North Eastern Railway warned people not to travel on Tuesday.

College of Paramedics chief executive Tracy Nicholls said the ‘ferocious heat’ could have a detrimental effect on Britons while the chairman of the NHS Confederation added hospitals are going to be ‘really, really pushed’ over the next few days.

The body of a 16-year-old boy was pulled from the water at Salford Quays last night as Brits flocked to lakes and beaches in an to attempt to cool off during the heat.

The heat has also left thousands without water after a series of burst water mains across the south-east of England.

Challock, Mollash and Broadstairs in Kent are experiencing disruptions to their service which started on Saturday night. Severe water mains have burst across the region – including in Paddock Wood – which have also affected water supplies ahead of the record temperatures expected at the start of next week. 

Yesterday, Ministers held a Cobra meeting to discuss the health effects of the heatwave after a national emergency was declared. 

Met Office Chief Executive Penny Endersby said: ‘Here in the UK we’re used to treating a hot spell as a chance to go and play in the sun. This is not that sort of weather.’

This week will see the UK’s first red extreme heat warning as temperatures soar towards 40C for the first time on record. Meteorologists have given an 80 per cent chance of the mercury topping the UK’s record of 38.7C, set in Cambridge in 2019.

Meteorologists are giving a 50-50 chance of the 40C barrier being passed in Britain on Monday or Tuesday. 

With temperatures forecast to hit 40C on Monday and Tuesday, Mr Raab urged people to take ‘common sense’ precautions.

‘Obviously there is some common sense practical advice we are talking about – stay hydrated, stay out of the sun at the hottest times, wear sun cream – those sorts of things,’ he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme.

‘We ought to enjoy the sunshine and actually we ought to be resilient enough through some of the pressures it will place.’

Asked if people should consider working from home, Mr Raab said: ‘That is for employers to consider and people to decide.

‘I’m not going to start dictating things like that. But obviously we have got more flexible working. So that will also help with this kind of thing.’

Asked if she would support parents who decide to keep their children off school on those days, Bridget Phillipson told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: ‘I am sure that headteachers will be doing everything they possibly can to make sure their schools are kept as cool as possible, that children are kept out of the hot sun and are kept indoors as much as possible.

‘I think children have missed out quite a lot already in terms of their education and it’s right for them to be there.’

On headteachers, she added: ‘They will always act in the best interests of the children in school.’

Health Secretary Steve Barclay urged the public to look out for vulnerable relatives and neighbours and urged people to take ‘sensible steps in terms of water, shade and cover’.

After chairing the Cobra meeting, Cabinet Office Minister Kit Malthouse warned there would be significant disruption to transport at the start of the week and urged people not to travel unnecessarily.

He said: ‘The heat will affect rails, for example, so the trains have to run slower. There may be fewer services. People need to be on their guard for disruption.

‘If they don’t have to travel, this may be a moment to work from home.’

NHS Confederation chairman Lord Victor Adebowale said the NHS ‘will cope’ over the next few days, but added that ‘coping isn’t good enough’.

He told Times Radio: ‘My members are pretty stretched at the moment. Ambulances are operating at their peak, the waiting times for ambulances are now getting longer.

‘We are going to be really, really pushed and it’s not just the red warning, the heatwave. We are dealing with Covid, which is causing sickness in our ambulance crews, which is one of the reasons we’ve got vacancies. And we’ve also got a social care challenge, which is we can’t get people out of hospital because social care is on its knees.’

Lord Adebowale added: ‘The NHS will cope but coping isn’t good enough. We need to be actually operating in a way that allows people to get the treatment they need wherever needed, in good time. And that’s a struggle.’

Research last week showed that people were attempting to make the most of the air-conditioning at work with offices running at 42 per cent capacity, the highest level since March 2020.

Some schools have started the summer holidays early as a result of the heat but contrary to the suggestion by teaching unions that some schools will need to shut, Government sources told The Mail on Sunday that the ‘consensus’ at yesterday’s Cobra meeting was that youngsters would be at risk if left unsupervised at home.

Meteorologists have warned there is a 50 per cent chance of temperatures reaching 40C or above on Tuesday, most likely along the A1 corridor, which runs from London to Scotland through counties including Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

That would make the UK hotter than the 35C expected in Tamanrasset in the Sahara, and 37C in New Delhi, India. A steamy 30C – 15C above average – is due at 1am tomorrow night in London. The current record night-time temperature was 23.9C, set in August 1990 in Brighton.

Fire brigades have warned the public to be careful when throwing away disposable BBQs or charcoal and cigarettes, and not to burn garden waste.

Western Europe continues to see record temperatures with wildfires in western France and Spain.

France’s heatwave is expected to peak on Monday, with temperatures climbing above 40C (104F).

In Spain, health ministers say unusually high temperatures of 45C have resulted in 360 heat-related deaths.

The chief executive of the College of Paramedics has warned that the ‘ferocious heat’ the UK is predicted to experience over the next few days could result in people dying.

Tracy Nicholls told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: ‘This isn’t like a lovely hot day where we can put a bit of sunscreen on, go out and enjoy a swim and a meal outside.

‘This is serious heat that could actually, ultimately, end in people’s deaths because it is so ferocious. We’re just not set up for that sort of heat in this country.’

Put ice under your desk fan, turn off the oven… and keep your pillow cases cool in the freezer! Just three of our budget-boosting tips to breeze through the heatwave

By Sarah Davidson for the Mail on Sunday

The temperature is rising, but that doesn’t mean your bills have to. You don’t need expensive gadgets and energy-guzzling air-conditioning units to get through the heatwave. Here are our nine ways to stay cool – and save money.

1: Turn your desk fan into an air-con unit

Air-conditioning may be the best way to cool a room, but units are expensive to buy and run. You can pick up a decent desk fan for under £20 but the cheapest air-conditioners start at about £250. And a desk fan uses roughly one per cent of the electricity air-conditioning uses. However, there are things you can do to make your fan work a little more like an air-conditioner.

As the temperature drops towards the end of the day and the air becomes cooler outside than in, point your fan towards an open window. That’s a more efficient way of cooling your room.

You could also try putting a bowl of ice in front of your fan. Julian House, at the discount website myvouchercodes, explains: ‘The air passes over the bowl, circulating cooler air.’ He adds that using a metal bowl could help keep the ice frozen for longer.

2: Hang towels outside your window

Keeping curtains closed during the day blocks out some of the heat from entering your home. But even with the windows covered this way, roughly 90 per cent of the heat still gets through.

It can be even more effective to block the sun from the outside, which keeps it off your windows altogether.

Shutters are most effective, but for a cheap and easy makeshift alternative, you could hang light-coloured towels or sheets outside your south-facing windows.

3: Put your pillow cases in the freezer

Try putting pillow cases, pyjamas and even bed sheets into freezer bags and keeping them in the freezer to help cool you down right before bed. You could even fill a hot-water bottle and freeze it.

Keep your daily moisturisers and sunscreen in the fridge to cool you down when you apply them.

‘Why not put some aloe vera in the fridge as well and get double the cooling? It’s also great for dealing with sunburn,’ adds House.

4: Put your feet in cold water

Ankles, feet and wrists have pulse points, so keeping them cool is an effective way of keeping your body temperature down.

If you are tempted to stand under a cold shower, you may find that putting your feet in a bowl of cold water is sufficient to cool off – and helps to keep your water bills down if you have a meter.

5: Turn appliances off standby

A surprising amount of heat is generated from appliances on standby, such as televisions and PC monitors. Switching them off can help avoid adding heat to already sweltering rooms – and cut your energy bills.

Conventional incandescent light bulbs lose up to 90 per cent of their energy as waste heat. Switch to efficient LED models to cut bills and heat.

Keep the back of your fridge clean and at least 10cm from the wall. Fridges work less efficie