Although it is still early in November as I write this, I am looking forward to Christmas.

A warming climate has been high on the agenda this past year, not least at the UN conference COP27 which has yet to conclude as I write, but after the UK has handed over the Presidency to Egypt.  It is clear that 2022 will go down as the warmest year on record with drought conditions and record temperatures over 40 degrees leading to some of our rivers running dry in their upper reaches.

We’ve had the warmest and driest autumn since records began and as I write, have not yet had the first frost. Of course, I cannot predict what will happen for the rest of the year nor whether we will enjoy a white Christmas – I will leave that to the papers - but I have no doubt that our climate is changing around us.

It is reassuring that our changing climate and the contribution we have made to our planet’s warming is now near-universally recognised by global leaders, 110 of whom attended the COP27 Climate Conference in Egypt in December, including our new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In November, I had the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister, now that we no longer have the COP Presidency as our forcing mechanism, how his Government will secure the necessary cross-departmental working to ensure our national net zero ambitions are achieved. He gave me a resolute response with a personal commitment to ensuring all government departments work towards decarbonising our economy.

Ahead of the COP27 Conference, our new King, HM Charles III hosted world leaders, business figures, environmentalists, and NGOs at Buckingham Palace. King Charles has been a leading figure in the environmental movement for half a century, long before many others had awoken to the developing crisis. We are fortunate to have both a Prime Minister and a Monarch fully committed to a sustainable future and the protection and preservation of our natural environment.

As Christmas approaches, like me, many people will be looking forward to spending time with loved ones, watching younger family members open their presents from Father Christmas and catching up over the Christmas Turkey.

But Avian Influenza, more commonly known as bird flu, may put our Christmas dinner at risk. At the time of writing, there had been 220 outbreaks since October 2021, 88 of which were during October this year.

Bird flu is a very virulent disease with turkeys particularly susceptible. The poultry industry is taking what steps they can to protect their flocks. I have joined colleagues in calling on the Government to harness our best scientists and virologists to develop a vaccine with the same urgency as we saw during the Covid pandemic.

Poultry farmers are not always highlighted for praise, but avian flu can completely devastate their business. The sector provides over 50% of the meat that we eat. Not to mention how critical they are to our traditional Christmas meal which dates back to Henry VIII who is thought to be the first person to eat turkey on Christmas day.

I hope that our poultry growers can provide the 10 million turkeys thought to be eaten each year at Christmas so that we can all enjoy the festive period and our Christmas Dinner to the full! Have a wonderful Christmas.