Air pollution

This could force Labour to take clean air and public health more seriously

29th January 2009

News that the European Commission has today launched legal proceedings against the United Kingdom and several other EU Member States for breaching air pollution laws has been strongly welcomed by Kingston and Surbiton MP, Edward Davey, who sparked the legal action by writing to Commissioner Dimas in Brussels last November.

The Liberal Democrats in Brussels and Westminster have long campaigned for tougher environmental action to clean up air pollution that is so damaging to public health, with links to asthma and to major respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Edward Davey's interest was sparked through his opposition to a proposed new Tesco store at Tolworth in his constituency which would dramatically increase traffic in an area already suffering from air pollution.

Today's announcement from the Commission relates to breaches of air quality laws over several years, relating primarily to the air pollutant, PM10 - in other words, tiny particulate matter produced mainly by road vehicles, especially diesel engines.

In recent Parliamentary answers secured by Edward Davey, the full extent of the breaches of these laws by the Government has been revealed, with London especially badly hit.

Commenting, Edward Davey MP said:

"This legal action could finally force Labour to take clean air and public health more seriously.

"This Government has been dragging its heels for a decade, failing to comply with its legal obligations, and in the meantime, more and more people have had their health hit.

"This is a real victory for environment campaigners, and shows how effective European co-operation on the environment can be - whilst exposing Labour's shoddy record.

"Gordon Brown expects us to believe his policies on climate change - another form of air pollution - with targets to be met in 2020 and 2050, yet Labour have failed to meet these air pollution targets for several years already.

"Now with the Heathrow decision, it is difficult to take Labour seriously on the environment, and we have to be grateful to Liberal Democrat Members of the European Parliament especially who worked so hard for legislation that could force the British Government to do the right thing."

Read Edward's recent parliamentary questions.

See the Campaign for Clean Air in London.