The mercury is set to soar to a sizzling 30C in the coming week – bringing British temperatures on a par with Spain’s Marbella.

The scorching heatwave will culminate on Wednesday, which forecasters say could be the hottest day of 2018, after a weekend of wall-to-wall sunshine around the UK.

Martin Bowles, operational meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “There’s widespread sunshine for several days due. “Over the weekend it’s going to stay sunny across the board almost everywhere.

“The temperature will be up a little bit each day.”

Saturday will see highs of 24C and Sunday will enjoy highs of 25C in the South East and London, but temperatures will be well above average widely, Bowles said.

The average for this time of year is about 21C in London, 18C in Manchester and 17C in Scotland.

“We’re going to be widely four or five degrees above that tomorrow and the next day,” Bowles said on Friday.

The forecaster said parts of the UK are likely to reach 30C on Wednesday.

“Monday 27C, Tuesday 28C, it’s quite likely, I’d say more likely than not, that somewhere in the UK on Wednesday will get 30C, probably the South East of England,” he said.

Bowles pointed out that this is not certain as Wednesday is still far ahead in forecasting terms.

If Britain does hit 30C it will be as hot as Gibraltar and parts of southern Spain, such as Marbella, which are also forecast to be around 30C.

Temperatures soared to a scorching 29.1C in St James’s Park in London in April.