Britain’s scorching heatwaves are being driven by cleaner skies after pollution was stripped from the atmosphere, new research suggests.

Temperatures in Europe have warmed twice as much as the rest of the world since the 1980s, figures show, with the continent now 2.3C warmer than it was in the pre-industrial era. In the same period, the global average is 1.3C.

The steep temperature rise in western Europe has outstripped expectations and has left experts puzzled as to its cause and concerned about the increase in deadly heatwaves.

Now Spanish researchers and the Met Office have concluded that most of the extra heat experienced in Britain and Europe is linked to the fall in particle emissions in recent decades.