The Government has announced it won’t challenge the High Court judgement and will publish a draft plan to tackle air pollution next week, after having attempted to delay the plans until after the election.

Ed Davey, former Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Change Secretary and the party’s candidate for Kingston and Surbiton, commented:

It is a disgrace this Conservative government had to be dragged through the courts before agreeing to publish a plan to tackle air pollution. How much taxpayers’ money has been wasted because of the failure of ministers to do the right thing?

There is an urgent threat to people’s health from air pollution, yet time and again this government has dithered and delayed instead of taking action.

The Liberal Democrats will fight to ensure action is taken to tackle the air pollution crisis that is claiming thousands of lives in UK each year.