Dry and warmer weather set to return to Lancashire this weekend following cooler temperatures

The mercury could climb back up to 31C in London and the southeast this weekend the Met Office has said, with sunshine returning to most of the country.

But while London is set to sizzle again the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will enjoy temperatures in the early to mid-20s, with scatterings of rain.

A spokesman for the Met Office told the Press Association: "Essentially at the end of the week we're looking at a bit of a north, west, south, east split in the weather.

"Northern and some western areas will often be cooler with some outbreaks of rain - particularly in Northern Ireland and that could spread in to the south and western Scotland."

"Temperatures will continue to build, but nothing quite as hot as what we saw towards the end of last week.

He continued: "This weekend is much more promising than last weekend - plenty of sunshine around although the north of England could see a few showers on Saturday.

The heat is likely to continue into next week.

"Temperatures will remain pretty hot across at least the south of England but potentially more widely across the UK - we could see some wet weather coming across the north west, but still pretty hot," the spokesman said.