Court to decide on clean air deadline

THE HIGH Court has ordered a hearing into the Government’s bid to delay revealing its plans to tackle illegal air pollution until after the General Election.

Ministers had been given until 4pm on Monday to set out draft measures on reducing illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution, after the courts ruled existing plans to meet EU-mandated air quality limits were not sufficient.

But in a surprise move on Friday night, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) lodged an application with the High Court to postpone publication of the draft clean air plan until after the June 8 poll.

Defra said a delay is necessary in order to comply with “purdah” rules on government announcements during the election period, but the move prompted critics to accuse the Government of “pure political expediency” in missing the deadline.

It is understood the High Court will hold a hearing on Thursday morning into the Government’s application to delay its publication.

James Thornton, chief executive of environmental law firm ClientEarth which originally brought the case over the Government’s failings on air pollution, said it would attend the hearing and was preparing a response to the application.

“Urgent action is required to protect people’s health from the illegal and poisonous air that we are forced to breathe in the UK,” he said.

“This is a matter for the court to decide once the Government has made its arguments because it is the Government which has not met... the court’s deadline for the clean air plan.” VOTERS WILL go to the polls on June 8 in the most important General Election Britain has faced in 60 years, Theresa May insisted as she took the campaign fight to Labour’s Welsh heartlands.

The Prime Minister insisted she was “not complacent” about the outcome of the poll as she told supporters “every single vote will count”.

She left the door open to tax breaks for workers that would be viewed as a direct pitch to win over Labour voters in areas such as Wales.

During a visit to Bridgend, Mrs May said the General Election was “the most important election this country has faced in my lifetime”.

“An election in which every single vote will count. A really important election for the future of this country,” she said.

“A vote for any other party would be a vote for a weak and failing Jeremy Corbyn propped up by a coalition of chaos which would risk our national future.”

Tories have so far refused to repeat the party’s 2015 manifesto pledge not to put up income tax, VAT or national insurance and Chancellor Philip Hammond has hinted it could be ditched.

But the party is reportedly considering a tax “sweetener” for working people. Asked about the claims, Mrs May replied: “There’s a choice between a Conservative Party which always has been, is and will always be a party that believes in lower taxes.”

She added: “The choice is between that and a Labour Party whose natural instinct is always to put up taxes.”

Mrs May insisted she was “not complacent” about the result of the June 8 poll and warned that Mr Corbyn could defy the odds.

She added: “Make no mistake, it could happen. Remember the opinion polls were wrong in the 2015 general election, they were wrong in the referendum last year. Jeremy Corbyn himself has said he was a 200-1 outsider for the Labour leadership in 2015 and look where that one went. So we must not be complacent and I’m not complacent.”