Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, is due to address a crowd outside Parliament and praised the children going on strike, saying they "are leading the way and I'll be proud to join them tomorrow.”

The strikes will mark the start of what is set to be a weekend of chaos.

On Saturday Extinction Rebellion plan to blockade the Port of Dover for four hours. The "No Food on a Dying Planet" action at the Kent port is expected to be mirrored across the Channel by other Extinction Rebellion groups.

On Sunday, as the Labour Party conference gets underway in Brighton, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that more than 20km of road in central London will be shut along with a further 340 streets which will be turned into “play areas”.

But the move has been criticised as a “PR stunt” which will cost £1million which could have been invested in “proper measures to improve air quality”.

Keith Prince, GLA Conservative Transport Spokesman and member of the London Assembly, added: "Once again the Mayor has demonstrated that he is more interested in indulging in shameless virtue signalling instead of properly getting to grips with the big issues facing London."

Greg Hands, the MP for Chelsea and Fulham, said that whilst declining car use in London was a positive thing randomly closing hundreds of roads was just a “stunt designed to irritate not provide lasting solutions”.