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Molly Scott Cato welcomes air pollution court case

01.06.17

Air pollution report launch
Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West and the Green Party’s parliamentary candidate for Bristol West, is welcoming the latest court action gainst the government over its repeated air pollution failures [1].
 
Conservative Ministers are being sued for a third time by environmental lawyers ClientEarth after their draft air quality plan, eventually produced only as a result of a series of embarrassing court defeats for the government, was deemed ‘feeble’ and ‘seriously flawed’.
 
News of the action comes just days after a report found that the government’s proposals could lead to more than 700 lives in Bristol being cut unnecessarily short [2]. The report was produced by the UK Green MEPs.
 
Molly Scott Cato, who has been a vocal supporter of the #LetBristolBreathe campaign in the city [3], said:
 
“I wholeheartedly support this latest action; the Conservative government must be held to account over its deadly apathy in the face of an air pollution crisis that is costing taxpayers £385m [4] and claiming the lives of nearly 800 people in Britain [5] – every week.” 
 
“ClientEarth’s commitment to holding the government to account for their repeated breaches of EU air pollution laws and failure to take action is to be admired. The decision to pursue the case is unsurprising, the government’s draft air quality plan is entirely inadequate. In Bristol alone, the plan and the lack of any effective measures to reduce air pollution levels are expected to needlessly cut short the lives of more than 700 residents before 2021.”
 
“The Conservatives’ consistent failure to take any action over this crisis is truly despicable. These deaths are preventable. And it is only because of vital EU air pollution laws that the government is being held to account over its feeble air quality plan. The plan is so lacking in detail and so non-committal that it will do nothing at all to help alleviate the air pollution crisis in Bristol.”
 
“Bristol residents are victims of both a Labour government that pushed the benefits of diesel cars before the effects of diesel emissions were well understood and a Conservative government that well understands the effects but continues to display a scandalous and deadly indifference to the issue.”
 
“The Green Party is the only party bold enough to tackle this public health emergency head-on, and every Green MP elected is another step towards clean air.”
 
“As your Green MP, I will join Caroline Lucas in pushing for an ambitious air quality plan that brings down pollution levels quickly and effectively – and forces the emissions cheat car companies to pay their way for the damage they done to people’s health. The recent ‘Polluted Cities’ report I produced sets out exactly what we can and should be doing now to clean up Bristol’s air.”
 
ENDS
 

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/31/uk-government-sued-for-third-time-over-illegal-air-pollution-from-diesels?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other​

[2] http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/news/uk-governments-feeble-air-quality-plan-set-to-cost-thousands-of-lives-says-new-report​ report available online here: https://www.scribd.com/document/349461019/Polluted-Cities-How-the-Government-s-air-quality-plan-will-impact-on-Brighton-and-Hove-Bristol-London-and-Oxford

[3] http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/let-bristol-breathe

[4] http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/02February/Pages/Air-pollution-kills-40000-a-year-in-the-UK-says-report.aspx

[5] https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution

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