Britain's most high-profile politicians rushed back from their holidays today to be photographed alongside a 16-year-old environmental activist who took the House of Commons by storm.

MPs including John Bercow, Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband welcomed Greta Thunberg to Parliament, where she made a speech about climate change and got a rapturous round of applause.

Miss Thunberg is the schoolgirl whose refusal to go to school because of global warming led to children around the world skipping classes in protest.

She came to Britain on Sunday and spoke to protesters camping out in Marble Arch and causing chaos to London's transport networks.

Today, she met political leaders at Westminster, including Mr Corbyn, Vince Cable and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas at Parliament.

MPs were keen to be photographed with Greta Thunberg during her visit to Parliament

Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband were quick to get pictures of themselves with the schoolgirl on their Twitter profiles

Conservative Simon Clarke and the Green Party's Caroline Lucas followed suit

The 16-year-old told a packed room in the Palace of Westminster that her future and those of her fellow children had been 'sold'.

'We probably don't even have a future any more,' she said.

'That future has been sold so that a small number of people can make unimaginable amounts of money.

'It was stolen from us every time you said 'the sky is the limit' and 'you only live once'.'

Miss Thunberg spoke alongside a panel of MPs, including Environment Secretary Michael Gove, Green MP Caroline Lucas, former Labour leader Ed Miliband and Lib Dem MP Layla Moran.

The schoolgirl said she knew politicians did not want to listen, as she started to experience microphone problems.

She asked: 'Is this microphone on? Can anybody hear me? Is my English OK? I am starting to wonder.'

Environment Secretary Michael Gove assured Miss Thunberg she had been heard as he admitted 'we have not done nearly enough'.

MPs stood and clapped the youngster after she told them they didn't want to listen

Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg (centre) met politicians including Green MP Caroline Lucas (centre left) and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre right)

A place was left for PM Theresa May, who was chairing a cabinet meeting at the time

In a 'no-chairing stunt', opposition party leaders left an empty chair for the Prime Minister at the meeting. Theresa May was in a cabinet meeting at the time.

Organisers of Miss Thunberg's event said that no response had been received to their invitation to the Prime Minister, but they were still hopeful she might attend at least part of the discussion.

Opening the talks, Miss Thunberg - who earlier met Commons Speaker John Bercow - told the MPs: 'We just want people to listen to the science.'

Ms Thunberg's visit to Parliament was organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group. Mrs May's office said they did not know whether she had been invited.

Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: 'It was a pleasure welcoming UK youth climate strikers and Greta Thunberg to parliament.

'Young people will be the most affected by climate change - seeing them take charge of their future is inspiring. Labour's committed to working with young people campaigning to save our planet.'

Ms Thunberg met politicians including Environment Secretary Michael Gove and former Labour leader Ed Miliband

Speaking at an event in London yesterday, Greta called on the UK to hold a general strike over climate change.

The schoolgirl then told Radio 4's Today programme this morning that there needs to be 'a level of panic' over climate change.

She added: 'If your house is on fire then that does require some level of panic. You don't sit talking about insurance claims and rebuilding - you do everything you can to put out the fire.'

The Nobel Peace Prize nominee is also expected to meet the leaders at around 11.30am on Tuesday before giving a speech at a meeting in Portcullis House at around 2pm.

She tweeted this message to her 460,000 followers on Twitter from Parliament this morning

Six months ago, the then-unknown Miss Thunberg camped outside Sweden's parliament next to a hand-written sign that read 'Skolstrejk för Klimatet' (School strike for the climate).

She skipped school every Friday to sit on the steps of the Riksdag and soon became a global success following her first TED talk - which now has more than a million views.

The 16-year-old climate crusader has already been immersed in her specialist subject for seven years.

Last year Miss Thunberg described herself as having been 'diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, OCD and selective mutism, saying 'I only speak when I have something important to say'.

She added: 'I see the world a bit differently, from another perspective… I can do the same thing for hours.'

She comes from an eminent family. Her mother is the beautiful blonde Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman who was the country's entry in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

Her father is actor Svante Thunberg, who was named after a distant relative, Svante Arrhenius, a Nobel-prize-winning scientist who in 1896 first calculated the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide emissions.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg attend a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Greta's mother is Swedish opera singer Malena Ernman. She is seen performing during the Eurovision grand final in Moscow on May 16

Miss Thunberg explained that she first learned about climate change in school, aged nine.

'They were always talking about how we should turn off lights, save water, not throw out food,' she said in one interview.

But she was baffled and frustrated by what she saw as a lack of action.

'If humans could really change the climate, everyone would be talking about it and people wouldn't be talking about anything else,' she said. 'But this wasn't happening.'

She started researching climate change herself, giving up other extra-curricular activities along the way - and became a vegan, stopped buying anything that was not essential and refused to fly anywhere.

By 2016 she had convinced her mother to give up flying, and the family cut out all meat and dairy. They installed solar batteries, started growing their own vegetables, went vegan and cycled everywhere, keeping an electric car for emergencies.

In August last year, her private personal protest went public when she walked out of school and plonked herself outside the Riksdag, hadninh out leaflets saying 'I'm doing this because you adulting are sh**ing on my future'.

Her demands were simple — that politicians reduced carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement of 2015.

In November 2018, still aged just 15 and dressed in a blue hoodie and hair in long plaits she gave her first TED talk, which has now been viewed more than a million times.

Greta holds a placard next to students during a 'strike for climate' held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum

Some have questioned whether her rise to global fame has been as accidental as it appears, but Miss Thunberg and her family have hit back hard at anmy suggestion of media manipulation.

PR consultant Ingmar Rentzhog's We Don’t Have Time climate change PR agency used Miss Thunberg's image to gain funds for his firm, according to Climate Change Dispatch.

But the publication said the teenager's family deny being aware that she would be used in this way, and the family have since cut ties with Mr Rentzhog’s organisation.

Her school strike coincided with the launch of a book about climate change written by her mother, according to Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche, but Miss Thunberg denied that the book launch had anything to do with her.

Miss Thunberg delivered a stern rebuke to attendees of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland in December 2018, accusing them of leaving the burden of climate change with future generations.

'I don't want your hope. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day,' she told them.

And she told business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 'our house is on fire!', after piously camping in the snow in temperatures of -18C rather than accepting luxury accommodation. She arrived at the out-of-the-way location after a 32 hour train journey, eschewing the jet planes used by most attendees.

Students gather to demand the government take action on climate change at Martin Place on November 30 last year

On February 15 and again on March 15 school students around the world, inspired by her example, played truant from school in a 'strike' to protest climate change.

In the UK last month, thousands of placard-waving youngsters ditched their lessons and flocked to London's Parliament Square to try to grab the attention of MPs.

They chanted 'this is what democracy looks like' while primary school children, who were at the protest with their parents and holding handmade placards, shouted 'climate change, boo!'

The walkouts took place in more than 100 UK towns and cities, including Kent, Edinburgh and Bristol, as part of a global day of action inspired by Miss Thunberg.

In response to the protests in March United Nations climate change chief Patricia Espinosa said: 'What we're seeing is a clear message from youth throughout the world that nations must significantly increase their efforts to address climate change.

During March's school's climate strike protestors blocked traffic across Westminster Bridge

During March's school's climate strike thousands rallied outside Parliament

Some 2,000 rallies took place on March 15 with 100 events in UK towns and cities including this one in Parliament Square

Students in Canterbury, in Kent, joined the strike in March - including one boy in school uniform who appears to have walked straight out of school

Strikes took place in over 120 countries around the world. A massive demonstration was held in Milan outside the iconic Duomo

Thousands of students thronged the streets of Lisbon on the international day of climate protest inspired by Miss Thunberg

'Given the urgency the world faces, it's vital nations come up with more ambitious plans both this year and in 2020 as stated in the Paris Agreement.

'This is how we will not only reach our collective climate goals, but how we will build a cleaner, greener and more prosperous future for all people.'

While recognising the importance of climate change in response to the first UK strike, Downing Street said the disruption increased teachers’ workloads and wasted lesson time, and Education Secretary Damian Hinds said missing class was not the answer.

The children's demands for urgent action to treat climate change as a global emergency come in the wake of a UN report last year which warned that limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which climate impacts become increasingly severe, requires unprecedented action.

That includes cutting global carbon dioxide emissions by almost half within 12 years, and to zero by mid-century.

Miss Thunberg's arrival in London today comes on the ninth day of the the Extinction Rebellion protests, after the activists kept up their demonstrations and sit-ins over the long Bank holiday weekend.

a half-naked protestor covered in body paint joined comrades in Parliament Square on the ninth day of the Extinction Rebellion protests in London today

Extinction Rebellion protesters marched on Parliament for their latest demo of two weeks of action. Big Ben is being restored

A police officer carrying a part of the climate change protesters' sound system away from the camp in Marble Arch

Extinction Rebellion protesters lying down inside the main hall of Natural History Museum

More than 1,000 people have been arrested in London over the last two weeks during climate change protests which started on Monday April 15.

The action has seen Waterloo Bridge and Oxford Circus blocked and a 100-person 'die in' at the Natural History Museum yesetrday.

The Metropolitan Police said 1,065 people had been arrested in connection with the demonstrations by 10am on Monday, while 53 of those had been charged.

A spokesman also revealed they have needed more than 10,000 officers over the last ten days to police the ongoing protests.

Last night, officers cut the main power to the Extinction Rebellion camp in Marble Arch and then removed the sound equipment.

After a police cordon was put in place, officers could be seen taking away the various parts of a sound system, including a mixing desk and amplifiers.