MP launches petition for new Clean Air Act
Labour deputy leader candidate Tom Watson MP seeks new Clean Air Act 1956 to include national network of low emission zones
Deputy Labour leader hopeful Tom Watson MP has launched a petition urging for a new Clean Air Act and calling on the Prime Minister and Environment Secretary to both “show leadership on this issue”.
Nelson’s Column during the Great Smog of 1952 (photo: N T Stobbs. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
The MP for West Bromwich East said the Clean Air Act, originally passed by the Conservative government in 1956 to combat smogs by allowing only smokeless fuel burning in London, needed updating as “many of our major cities now face a crisis on a similar scale”.
London’s ‘Great Smog’ of 1952 is thought to have led directly to thousands of deaths and many more hospital admissions, and Mr Watson’s petition follows a report estimating that more than 9,400 people each year die prematurely as a result of air pollution in London (see AirQualityNews.com story).
Launching the online petition last week (July 24), which at the time of writing has 35 signatures, Mr Watson said:
“It is clear to me that we are living through a new clean air crisis and it’s time to act.”
He also criticised the Prime Minister for doing “too little to tackle the current crisis”.
He added that local councils had “little budget and no support from central government” and were therefore “struggling to take on the laggards of the transport industry, who continue to push highly polluting passenger and freight vehicles onto our roads”.
Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East
Therefore, according to Mr Watson, a new Clean Air Act should include a national network of low emission zones to introduce a set of “common standards, tariffs and penalties across the country”, arguing that this is “the best way to reward transport companies who reduce emissions and punish those that don’t”.
He also encouraged commuters in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Cardiff to “play their part” by using alternative travel options such as car sharing.
Mr Watson is one of five candidates running in the current Labour deputy leadership election, with the winner set to be announced alongside the leadership election result at the Party’s annual conference in September.
And, explaining that during recent hustings for the deputy leadership election many questions had been raised about environmental policy, he called for stronger Labour policies on air pollution as the issue “has received little attention in the national debate”.
Mr Watson said: “I want Labour to go into the 2020 election with clear and robust policies that allow us to redress and adapt to climate change. And we need to reassure people that we are willing to act when pollution impacts on the lives of millions of Britons.”
Good luck with the wood burners, since wood smoke is one of the few ways the common person can have any real effect on all others. “If you can’t do anything else, you can always make smoke!”