7 February 2017

* Keith Taylor MEP: “The government has been exposed, yet again, as failing in its duty to take even the most basic action to combat an air pollution crisis that needlessly claims the lives of more than 50,000 people in Britain every year.”

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East, has slammed the Conservative government for its consistent failure to tackle the air pollution crisis, as the EU prepares to escalate action against the UK for breaching air quality laws.

The latest EU review has revealed multiple failings by the UK Government in applying environmental law, with Britain being in breach of vital EU nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limits since 2010 and London overshooting its whole 2017 limit in the first five days of the year.

It is understood that the results of the review will be sent on 15 February to the UK. A court case at the European Court of Justice could follow if the UK Government fails to send a satisfactory response to the findings.

Keith Taylor MEP, a vocal air quality campaigner, is urging the UK government to finally take seriously its responsibility for the health of British citizens.

“The government has been exposed, yet again, as failing in its duty to take even the most basic action to combat an air pollution crisis that needlessly claims the lives of more than 50,000 people in Britain every year.”

“The failure highlighted by the European Commission review is as much moral as it is legal; Ministers have displayed an extremely concerning attitude of indifference towards their duty to safeguard the health of British citizens.”

“That the European Commission is having to hold to account this government for a public health crisis that costs the British public more than £20bn a year is a shameful indictment of the Conservatives’ irresponsible and deadly apathy.”

“Theresa May’s administration is failing to do even the bare minimum, as required by EU laws the UK itself helped to set, to improve the quality of the air we all breathe. The bare minimum.”

“Where embraced and enforced, EU air pollution limits are helping to prevent thousands of deaths every year and saving billions of pounds in direct health costs. In fact, this government readily acknowledges that it is EU law that has been the driver of any positive air quality action in the UK. For the sake of the health and prosperity of the British people, we cannot risk scrapping these safeguards.”

“The government must finally face up to its moral and legal responsibility for tackling Britain’s air quality crisis. Ministers must now be forced to make a firm commitment to abiding by and fully implementing EU air quality laws. Theresa May must also make maintaining and strengthening these vital protections a priority as Britain prepares to leave the EU.”

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Andrew
Gwynne, Labour’s shadow minister without portfolio, commenting on new rules from the
DFT covering access to taxis for disabled people, said:

“It is
welcoming to see the Government taking a positive step to help to prevent some
of the discrimination faced by wheelchair users, finally bringing into force
this aspect of the Equality Act of 2010.

“This new
rule matches those already in place to prevent discrimination against users of
assistance dogs, but still in the last year YouGov research showed that 42% of
assistance dog owners reported being turned away by a taxi or minicab

“Labour’s
Disability Equality Roadshow is touring the country, listening to disabled
people, many of whom have raised discrimination as an issue.

“Unfortunately
the Private Members Bill I introduced earlier this year to fix this problem was
talked out by the Government, but I trust the Accessibility action plan will
take on the recommendations suggested within my Bill.“

John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the publication of the IFS Green
Budget today, which reveals that the Tories are going ahead with £34bn in
additional austerity at a time when the NHS is in crisis following the slowest
growth in health spending since the 1950s, said:

“This
report from the IFS is damning of the seven wasted years of Tory economic
failure. Rather than learning the lessons of his predecessor, Philip Hammond is
pursuing an austerity agenda that will make matters in our NHS and social care
system even worse.

“The Chancellor who has been at the heart of government since 2010 must
take his share of responsibility, especially as the IFS is now cutting
growth forecasts with the national debt at its highest as a fraction of
national income since England won the World Cup, and with the tax burden at its
highest in thirty years.

"The fact the NHS is seeing its slowest growth in funding since the 1950s
proves you cannot trust the Tories with our health service. And the social care
crisis is only set to get even worse as the Tories refuse to provide the
funding needed, continuing to let elderly people in our communities down.

"Rather
than going ahead with £34 billion of austerity while our public services are
already stretched, which as the IFS say have under the Tories seen the longest
fall in funding on record, it is time for the Chancellor to truly change
direction.

"Labour would call for a serious boost to investment, underpinned by our
Fiscal Credibility Rule, which would help bring an end to a Tory economy rigged
against working people; sort out the public finances; and get the national debt
under control.”

Commenting on further detail on the content of the government’s white paper on housing, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey MP said:

“The measures announced so far in Theresa May’s long-promised housing white paper are feeble beyond belief.

“After seven years of failure and a thousand housing announcements, the housing crisis is getting worse not better.

“There are 200,000 fewer home-owners, homelessness has doubled, and affordable house-building has slumped to a 24 year low

“Ministers should be setting out clear plans to deal with these problems, but all Theresa May’s Ministers have delivered so far is hot air.

“The government should instead back Labour’s plan to fix the housing crisis – thousands more affordable homes to rent and buy, a charter of renters’ rights and action to end to rough sleeping homelessness.”

ENDS

•         The government’s announcements on housing to date: https://www.gov.uk/government/announcements?keywords=&announcement_filter_option=all&topics%5B%5D=housing&departments%5B%5D=all&world_locations%5B%5D=all&from_date=06%2F05%2F2010&to_date=

•         The government’s record:

– The number of households who own their own home has fallen by 200,000, with the number of under-35 households owning a home down by 344,000.

– There are over 900,000 more households renting from a private landlord than in 2010 including one in four families with dependent children, but rents have risen faster than incomes.  

– Despite 13 separate cuts to housing benefit, including the bedroom tax, the housing benefit bill is £4bn higher each year in cash terms.

– There are 143,000 fewer council homes than in 2010, with only one home in every six sold under the right to buy replaced, despite promises of ‘one for one’ replacement. Measures in the recent housing and planning act are set to mean the loss of 23,503 council houses a year according to the housing charity Shelter.

– According to the Government-commissioned Local Plan Expert Group it is now taking councils almost a year (306 days) longer to adopt vital local plans for housing than in 2009. Among the main reasons are: “a lack of political will and commitment”, “a lack of clarity on key issues”, “too many changes… of policy”, and “a lack of guidance, support and resources”.  We’ve had constant chop and change but no improvement, despite six piece of planning legislation in six years under the Tories.