MORE than 200 Taunton students skipped classes to protest about the threat of man-made climate change.

The banner-waving teenagers met up in High Street and marched down East Street and on to Richard Huish College this morning (Friday).

Onlooker and district councillor Jefferson Horsely was impressed by the Youth Strike 4 Climate demonstration and the message the youngsters put across.

Somerset County Gazette:

He said: "I applaud them - they are doing what my generation has failed to do.

"Our politicians are letting us down.

"This protest showed us where global warming is taking the world. We need to reverse climate change before global warming renders this planet uninhabitable for humans by 2070.

"The failure of politicians to grasp this is worse than their failure to sort Brexit and it is left to school children to draw our attention to the consequences of the evidence based figures on rising temperatures and the melting of all the polar ice and rising sea levels."

Further action has been carried out by students across Europe who fear inaction could lead to the extinction of all life on Earth.

A spokesman said: "We are taking a stand to send a powerful message that this issue is significantly more important than even our education. There is no point in going to school if we have no future."