Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, responding to estimates from Public Health England (PHE) that long-term exposure to air pollution led to around 29,000 deaths in the United Kingdom in 2010; said:

“Air pollution is a serious public health issue facing our towns and cities, tens of thousands of lives are lost each year and yet the government has no strategy. 

“Instead of implementing measures to reduce the levels of pollution, the government recently had to scrap its own air quality strategy because evidence suggested that it would have made the problem worse, and now the government have no plan. 

“This report should be seen as a wake-up call for ministers to take urgent action and prevent this public health crisis.”