7 February 2017

* Keith Taylor MEP: “The government has been exposed, yet again, as failing in its duty to take even the most basic action to combat an air pollution crisis that needlessly claims the lives of more than 50,000 people in Britain every year.”

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East, has slammed the Conservative government for its consistent failure to tackle the air pollution crisis, as the EU prepares to escalate action against the UK for breaching air quality laws.

The latest EU review has revealed multiple failings by the UK Government in applying environmental law, with Britain being in breach of vital EU nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limits since 2010 and London overshooting its whole 2017 limit in the first five days of the year.

It is understood that the results of the review will be sent on 15 February to the UK. A court case at the European Court of Justice could follow if the UK Government fails to send a satisfactory response to the findings.

Keith Taylor MEP, a vocal air quality campaigner, is urging the UK government to finally take seriously its responsibility for the health of British citizens.

“The government has been exposed, yet again, as failing in its duty to take even the most basic action to combat an air pollution crisis that needlessly claims the lives of more than 50,000 people in Britain every year.”

“The failure highlighted by the European Commission review is as much moral as it is legal; Ministers have displayed an extremely concerning attitude of indifference towards their duty to safeguard the health of British citizens.”

“That the European Commission is having to hold to account this government for a public health crisis that costs the British public more than £20bn a year is a shameful indictment of the Conservatives’ irresponsible and deadly apathy.”

“Theresa May’s administration is failing to do even the bare minimum, as required by EU laws the UK itself helped to set, to improve the quality of the air we all breathe. The bare minimum.”

“Where embraced and enforced, EU air pollution limits are helping to prevent thousands of deaths every year and saving billions of pounds in direct health costs. In fact, this government readily acknowledges that it is EU law that has been the driver of any positive air quality action in the UK. For the sake of the health and prosperity of the British people, we cannot risk scrapping these safeguards.”

“The government must finally face up to its moral and legal responsibility for tackling Britain’s air quality crisis. Ministers must now be forced to make a firm commitment to abiding by and fully implementing EU air quality laws. Theresa May must also make maintaining and strengthening these vital protections a priority as Britain prepares to leave the EU.”

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Andrew
Gwynne, Labour’s shadow minister without portfolio, commenting on new rules from the
DFT covering access to taxis for disabled people, said:

“It is
welcoming to see the Government taking a positive step to help to prevent some
of the discrimination faced by wheelchair users, finally bringing into force
this aspect of the Equality Act of 2010.

“This new
rule matches those already in place to prevent discrimination against users of
assistance dogs, but still in the last year YouGov research showed that 42% of
assistance dog owners reported being turned away by a taxi or minicab

“Labour’s
Disability Equality Roadshow is touring the country, listening to disabled
people, many of whom have raised discrimination as an issue.

“Unfortunately
the Private Members Bill I introduced earlier this year to fix this problem was
talked out by the Government, but I trust the Accessibility action plan will
take on the recommendations suggested within my Bill.“

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John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the publication of the IFS Green
Budget today, which reveals that the Tories are going ahead with £34bn in
additional austerity at a time when the NHS is in crisis following the slowest
growth in health spending since the 1950s, said:

“This
report from the IFS is damning of the seven wasted years of Tory economic
failure. Rather than learning the lessons of his predecessor, Philip Hammond is
pursuing an austerity agenda that will make matters in our NHS and social care
system even worse.

“The Chancellor who has been at the heart of government since 2010 must
take his share of responsibility, especially as the IFS is now cutting
growth forecasts with the national debt at its highest as a fraction of
national income since England won the World Cup, and with the tax burden at its
highest in thirty years.

"The fact the NHS is seeing its slowest growth in funding since the 1950s
proves you cannot trust the Tories with our health service. And the social care
crisis is only set to get even worse as the Tories refuse to provide the
funding needed, continuing to let elderly people in our communities down.

"Rather
than going ahead with £34 billion of austerity while our public services are
already stretched, which as the IFS say have under the Tories seen the longest
fall in funding on record, it is time for the Chancellor to truly change
direction.

"Labour would call for a serious boost to investment, underpinned by our
Fiscal Credibility Rule, which would help bring an end to a Tory economy rigged
against working people; sort out the public finances; and get the national debt
under control.”

The central authorities handled 11,735 suggestions and proposals submitted by legislators and political advisors in 2016, over 90 percent of all of those submitted.

Xi Yanchun, spokeswoman with the State Council Information Office said at a press conference on Tuesday that State Council departments had responded to 7,873 suggestions raised by deputies to the National People’s Congress and 3,862 proposals put forward by members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference during the annual sessions of the two bodies held in March 2016.

This means that 91.5 percent of the national legislators’ suggestions and 90.9 percent of political advisors’ proposals put forward during the two sessions were handled by the central authorities, Xi said.

More than 3,000 suggestions and proposals had been adopted by State Council departments and over 1,300 policies and measures have been introduced accordingly, Xi said, adding that the process had improved the quality of government decision-making.

The Ministry of Education (MOE), which handled 1,023 legislators’ suggestions and 805 political advisors’ proposals, introduced 81 new policies in 2016, most of which were inspired by the suggestions and proposals, according to Shen Xiaoming, vice minister of the MOE, at the briefing.

Issues of top concern last year included student life, educational equality and development of higher education, Shen said.

Inspired by the suggestions and proposals, the National Health and Family Planning Commission issued a guideline on what it calls “Healthy China,” with more than 20 other authorities, and launched an action plan to improve medical services, according to Cui Li, deputy director of the commission, at the briefing.