Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Westminster Hour’ show last night, Dr Neil Gavin of Liverpool University revealed the findings of his research into the coverage of climate change across the national press over the past decade.

The senior lecturer in Communication Studies said that when the gathered statistics were disaggregated it would appear that environmental issues were predominately a “phenomenon of the broadsheet newspapers.” But not, alas, all of them.

The academic stated that The Independent and The Guardian were covering climate change “quite extensively”, with both publications suggesting that the issue has to be approached significantly by politicians soon.

But Dr Gavin also noted that the more right-thinking titles, such as The Telegraph and The Times, were prone to print a greater proportion of stories reflecting scepticism of the topic.

The picture appeared to worsen when looking at coverage in tabloid publications.

“The entire output from The Sun and the News of the World is a couple of dozen stories maximum over a six or seven year period,” stated Dr Gavin.

“Politicians are not under pressure from the majority of newspapers,” he concluded.