Britain to be sued by European Commission over air pollution

The First Minister has stated her opp osition to giving all prisoners t he r i ght t o vote af t er a Holyrood committee backed the move.

Nicola Sturgeon said she did not agree with t he c onclusi on of t he Equalities and Human Rights Committee that prisoners ser ving custodial sentences should be enfranchised.

Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MSPS on the committ e e s upp or t e d t he move yes t er day, wit h Tory members dissenting.

Ms Sturgeon told First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood a “grown- up” debat e ove r t he i s s ue was needed following devolution of the rele - vant power to the Scottish Parliament. But in response to a question from Tory MSP Murdo Fraser, she said she was not in favour of giving all prisoners the vote. The European Commission is taking the British Government to cour t for breaching Euro - pean Union air quality rules.

The EU’S environment commissioner Karmenu Vella said Britain had broken limits on l e v e l s o f h e a l t h - d a m a g i n g nit r ogen dioxide ( NO2) and f a i l e d t o p r ov i d e “c r e d i b l e , effective and timely” plans to cut pollution.

Levels of NO2 – largely from car exhaust f umes – p eaked as high as 102 microgrammes per cubic metre of air in 16 UK l o cati ons i n 2016, i ncluding London and Glasgow, c omp a r e d t o a n E U l i mi t o f 4 0 microgrammes. France and Germany were also referred to the European Court of Justice for breaching NO2 limits.