Boffins from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton have discovered that the Gulf Stream – a natural ‘central heating’ system which keeps the UK unnaturally warm for its latitude – has weakened by 30 per cent in the last 12 years.

They say this could be because melting ice from the globally-warmed Arctic is throwing a hydrographic spanner in the ocean current works. Both the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift keep us 5C warmer than we should be.

Britain is on the same latitude as Labrador and without these warming ocean systems would face sub-zero temperatures for most of the winter.