WORLD climate change could be one of the factors causing this weekend's storms and tornados, Environment Minister Michael Meacher said.

After visiting the scene of a tornado which ripped through Bognor Regis, West Sussex, Mr Meacher said the role of pollution and its effect on the global atmosphere was one of the reasons people were seeing increasingly varied weather.

He said the Government would be publishing its own national plan to reduce greenhouse gases next month and ministers would be pressing for international action at an approaching conference on pollution.

Mr Meacher said he was stunned by the damage caused by the tornado which ripped through Bognor Regis on Saturday evening, injuring five people.

He paid tribute to emergency services and promised to talk to Government colleagues to see what help could be offered.

He said: "It was quite stunning, certainly as severe as any storm damage I have ever seen.

"I must pay tribute to the emergency services who have worked day and night to make the buildings safe. Their response has been very impressive."

The twister cut a swathe of destruction about 1.5 miles long through the streets of the town, lifting one caravan into the air and dropping it on to another parked nearby, seriously injuring two women. Michael Meacher with Phil Phillips of West Sussex police