Maria Eagle and Sadiq Khan slam Tory inaction on air pollution

Almost 30,000 people a year die due to poor air quality in our towns and cities, according to Shadow Environment Maria Eagle. Along with Shadow London Minister Sadiq Khan, Eagle today launched a campaign against the Government’s failure to act on the rising levels of air pollution in the UK’s towns and cities. More than 3,000 of those deaths occur in London, with scientists warning that pollution in Britain’s cities is stunting the development of children’s lungs.

They announced that the Labour Government would introduce Low Emission Zones to give local authorities the ability to do more to encourage low-pollution vehicles. Eagle said that as part of Miliband’s devolution agenda this would “devolve the power, not just the responsibility, and support local authorities that want to tackle this public health crisis.”

Khan blasted London Mayor Boris Johnson as having “no plan to tackle London’s air pollution” and that his actions will mean that “London’s air will remain dangerously polluted for at least another 20 years”.