The High Court has ordered that the Government must explain its plan to delay publication of the UK's clean air plan.
A court direction had previously been issued for Ministers to produce draft measures aimed at tackling illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution by 4pm on Monday 24 April. This followed after the original plans proposed by Ministers were criticised and dismissed by Judges as being "so poor as to be unlawful".
However after the announcement of the general election Ministers made an application to the court to allow them to miss the deadline in order to comply with "pre-election propriety rules".
Both environmental groups and some politicians have complained that ministers were using the upcoming general election as an excuse to delay the publication of the plan. Some health experts have warned the lack of government action could potentially be putting thousands of lives at risk.
The Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, was summoned to Parliament to answer urgent questions on the subject, she said she was ''personally deeply committed to the importance of ensuring clean air'', however Cabinet Office officials had told her it would breach rules to publish such plans in the run-up to the election. She added that the Government have applied to delay the publication of the plans till 30 June and the full policy will be announced in September.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: ''It is frankly outrageous that the Government thinks it can continue to bury its head in the sand about the serious health impacts of air quality in London and across the country. The prime minister has once again missed this golden opportunity to show real leadership in tackling and improving the air we breathe, which should have been done well before the pre-election period.''
CEO of the environmental lawyers ClientEarth, James Thornton, who brought the original case against the Government, commented: ''This is a public health issue and not a political issue. Urgent action is required to protect people's health from the illegal and poisonous air that we are forced to breathe in the UK. This is a matter for the court to decide once the Government has made its arguments because it is the government which has not met, and instead seeks to extend, the court's deadline for the clean air plan, to clean up our air.''
ClientEarth's lawyers will attend the hearing which is scheduled for Thursday 27 April at 10:30am.
