Cleaning up air pollution is Theresa May’s ‘moral duty’ as prime minister says UK public Updated for 2024

Updated: 06/05/2024

Theresa May has a moral duty as prime minister to ensure the country has good air quality, according to three quarters of the public who responded to a survey.

A total of 73 percent of those surveyed in the YouGov poll said they thought that the May had a “moral responsibility to ensure the UK has good air quality for future generations”.

The news comes as environmental lawyers at ClientEarth bring their third case against the UK government at the High Court over illegal and harmful levels of air pollution across the country.

Its lawyers will argue that government plans still fail to deal with the problem of toxic air, which is at illegal levels in 37 of 43 zones across the country.

The hearing is owned today in Court 2 of the High Court before Mr Justice Garnham. It will also see the Welsh Government defend its record on air pollution, after it was named as a defendant in the case.

ClientEarth won its other two air pollution legal challenges against the UK government at the Supreme Court in 2015 and High Court in 2016.

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Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. He tweets at @EcoMontague. This article is based on a press release from ClientEarth. 

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