MPs call for petrol and diesel car bans to be brought forward

MPs from The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Environmental Audit, Health and Social Care, and Transport Committees have published a joint report which calls for tougher restrictions in order to improve air quality.

The report calls for a clean air fund financed by the transport industry and a national air quality support programme for councils.

The report also recommends that the government should bring forward the date by which manufacturers must end the sale of conventional petrol and diesel cars to earlier than the current 2040 target, in line with more ambitious commitments from around the world and that a new Clean Air Act should be introduced to improve existing legislation.

Neil Parish MP, chair of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said: "The government's latest plan does not present an effective response to the scale of the air quality catastrophe in the UK.

“We are concerned that the government is treating air quality as a box-ticking exercise. Real change will require bold, meaningful action.

“We are calling on government to develop a properly resourced support scheme available to all councils struggling with air quality, and to require manufacturers of polluting vehicles to pay their fair share by contributing to an industry-financed clean air fund".