English sparkling wine is becoming better than Champagne because of climate change, the Environment Secretary has claimed.

Michael Gove, said that British vineyards were now being rated higher than French wineries and that the warming climate could see the industry boom.

Speaking at the BBCs Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Mr Gove said that Britain’s heatwave summer could become ‘the new normal’ as our traditional rainy holiday season was replaced by more continental conditions.

Although he said that soaring temperatures brought challenges for farmers, he said the new climate also offered opportunities for grape growers who were seeing ‘bumper’ harvests.

“I was in East Sussex the weekend before last, talking to someone there who bought a farm, who has converted it into a highly successful business producing English sparkling wine,” he said.

“It’s been assessed independently as of higher quality and better tasting than the finest Champagne vineyards.

“One of opportunities of a changing climate is the chalky soil of parts of England, combined with the weather that we are having, means that English sparkling wine will have a bumper harvest.

“It will soon bring a level of cheer to British drinkers greater than that provided by French champagne. It is a harbinger of the inventiveness, of the creativeness and the resilience, the imagination and the sheer joie de vivre that you can find here in Britain.”