London girl Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah who died from dangerous levels of air pollution in 2013
(Picture: PA Media)MPs have launched a Commons campaign to persuade the Government to back “Ella’s Law” to tackle toxic air in London and other parts of Britain.
Green MP Caroline Lucas is championing the proposed new legislation in the Commons after it was approved in the Lords.
The bill is named after Ella Adoo Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack in 2013.
Ella, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death.
The new law would make breathing clean air a human right.
It would also make the Government adopt a target to cut tiny PM2.5 particulate pollution to 10 µg/m3 by 2030, the same goal as the EU.
However, Enivronment Secretary Therese Coffey has proposed putting back the deadline to 2040, despite ministers saying they would not water down environmental standards after Brexit.
The move has been criticised by the Government’s own eco-watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection, ahead of Ms Coffey confirming the new target.
PM2.5 pollution is particularly harmful as it can seep deep into the lungs and heart system.
Ms Lucas, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs are pushing an Early Day Motion urging the Government to back the bill.
“It would ensure the human right to breathe clean air and thus prevent the deaths of children and other vulnerable people whilst helping to protect the environment and mitigate climate change,” they said.
Ms Lucas added: “Air pollution is a silent killer of thousands, and an insidious health threat to millions.
“Clean air isn’t, and should never be, just a ‘nice-to-have’. When the alternative of dirty, toxic, carcinogenic smog wreaks such havoc on so many lives, clean air must be a human right.
“I look forward to championing Ella’s Law in the House of Commons – and I’m urging all MPs to back it, to make that sure tragic deaths like Ella’s never happen again.”
The EDM has already been signed by 23 MPs including Marsha De Cordova (Battersea), John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington), Dawn Butler (Brent Central), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) and Daisy Cooper (St Albans).
Ella’s mother Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah is urging the Government to back the proposed new law which was put forward as a Private Member’s Bill by Green Party peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb in the Lords where it has passed all its legislative stages.
It also includes other clauses such as requiring public bodies to review and monitor pollution limits, with the aim of achieving clean air within five years, and on tackling mould in homes.
Ministers have defended the PM2.5 target of 2040, arguing not all parts of the country could achieve it by 2030.
EDMs are used to raise awareness of an issue in the Commons
