Scientists may have long since reached a consensus on the subject, but British Members of Parliament still haven't entirely gotten to grips with climate change, with 1 in 5 of them admitting that they either disbelieve or don't have an opinion on the work of climate scientists. This is according to a survey reported in The Guardian on Wednesday.

The survey asked, among other questions: "Do you believe climate change is happening and can be directly attributed to greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity?"

Of the 168 MPs who responded, 134 replied "Yes", 19 "No", and the others didn't know (13) or didn't say (2). That's 80% in the Yes camp, but a worrying 20% out of touch with the science.

The results varied considerable by gender and party. 89% of the 24 women polled said "Yes", with the figure dropping to 78% for men. Interestingly, the "No" vote was 11% for both genders, with the difference being explained by 10% of men selecting "don't know", an option which no women selected. It's hard to draw much of a conclusion from that though, given the small sample size.

The two main parties in Britain's two-and-a-bit party system were some way apart. 91 Labour MPs responded to the survey, compared to just 55 Conservatives. A "Yes" vote of 86% for Labour plunged to a shocking 63% on the opposition benches (and for the "-and-a-bit" party, 96%). In the immortal words of some guy sampled on Frontier Psychiatrist, what does that mean?

Well possibly less than the Guardian make out it does. While his party may be lagging on climate change, David Cameron is not apparently a skeptic and if he gets into power he can keep the party in line on votes. With at least two thirds of the House firmly in agreement with the science, it's unlikely that any progress is going to be significantly obstructed by a disjointed minority that will probably be keen not to rock the boat on such a big issue.

The key issue now will be to see how the trend progresses over the next few years, and to see what actually takes place in Parliament. The cynic in me suspects that even a change of government won't have much effect on the slow but steady progress we've made in the last decades. We shall see.