Mayor's air quality plans "too little, too late"

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Labour London Assembly member Murad Qureshi today accused Boris Johnson of doing "too little, too late" for London's air quality as the Mayor trumpets his latest half-hearted policies in the face of a major public health disaster.

More than three years since he became Mayor, Boris Johnson is still tinkering at the edges of a growing public health issue. He has:

• Delayed phase III of the low emission zone by fifteen months
• Imposed an age limit on black cabs that is actually higher than most cabbies choose to replace their vehicle currently
• Decided three years into his mayoralty to encourage drivers not to leave their engines idling.

Labour's environment spokesman on the London Assembly, Murad Qureshi, said "The Mayor is seeking praise for his latest air quality measures, but yet again they are too little, too late, from a Mayor who just doesn’t seem to understand the problem, and who seems more concerned with a shiny press release than in tackling this devastating public health time bomb."

Murad added:

"This is far too late in the day and while the mayor has dithered London's air has remained lethal. No one has benefited from this delay but everyone has suffered. More people are dying from London's pollution than are killed in road accidents - this can't continue in a supposedly advanced capital city."

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For further information please contact Alison Marcroft on 0207 983 4363

Murad Qureshi is a London-wide Assembly Member and the Labour environment spokesperson on the Assembly.