UK blasted by EU court for years of toxic air violations

BRITAIN was lambasted by Europe’s top court yesterday for breaching air pollution law over several years.

The European Court of Justice ruled that Britain had ‘systemically and persistently’ recorded toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions, mostly caused by traffic.

The Luxembourg-based judges ruled the limits were breached in 16 areas across the UK between 2010 and 2017, with emissions in London at times reaching three times the legal limit.

The court has continued to oversee the case because proceedings started before Brexit. Last night, the EU admitted that following Brexit, it was powerless to impose a punishment on Britain.

A European Commission spokesman said it ‘no longer has the powers to request penalty payments if the United Kingdom does not comply with this judgment’.

But Britain was ordered to pay the lawsuit costs for the EU.

The ruling stated that across the 16

Diesel vehicles one of biggest emitters

areas, NO2 emissions were regularly between 25 and 75% higher than they should have been.

These areas included London, Greater Manchester, Southampton, Glasgow, Yorkshire and Merseyside.

EU rules state that countries must keep NO2 emissions under 40 micrograms per cubic metre on average over the course of a year. There are also hourly limits under which emissions should not exceed 200 micrograms per cubic metre more than 18 times a year.

NO2 has been linked to respiratory illnesses, and dirty air causes 40,000 early deaths every year in the UK.

Diesel vehicles, which motorists were encouraged to buy during the terms of Tony Blair’s Labour government, are one of the main emitters of NO2.

The ECJ’s ruling said that not only were limits breached, but ministers had failed to ensure that the breaches lasted for as short a time as possible.

The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: ‘Air pollution at a national level has reduced significantly since 2010 and now we are out of the EU, we are continuing to deliver our £3.8billion (€4.4billion) air quality plan to tackle NO2 exceedances in the shortest possible time.’