:00:18. > :00:23.This morning, as Mandy has explained, we're going to be talking
:00:24. > :00:27.about air pollution in particular. It eats all too easy to ignore it
:00:28. > :00:31.because you can't see it any more. Back in the last century, people
:00:32. > :00:34.took action about air pollution because they literally couldn't see
:00:35. > :00:37.that hand in front of them. You might have seen pictures on the TV
:00:38. > :00:41.of the peacekeepers, as they were called. You couldn't see your way
:00:42. > :00:47.down the road. Air pollution today is every bit as deadly as it was
:00:48. > :00:51.then but it's every bit as deadly, but people ignore it. Our message to
:00:52. > :00:55.the Government to date is that you cannot ignore our pollution and the
:00:56. > :01:00.real worry is that they have been trying to avoid dealing with air
:01:01. > :01:03.pollution, because for the last seven years, basically,
:01:04. > :01:07.environmental lawyers in the courts have been battling on behalf of the
:01:08. > :01:13.Government to try to avoid the Government having to take action on
:01:14. > :01:16.air pollution. In the courts, the Government have been fighting this
:01:17. > :01:23.really hard but the facts about dirty air are widely known. We need
:01:24. > :01:28.action as soon as possible. Molly talked about the early deaths
:01:29. > :01:34.associated with air pollution in Bristol city, but if you added up
:01:35. > :01:38.across the country, in the UK around 40,000 early deaths are linked to
:01:39. > :01:42.our pollution. 40,000 is a huge number. When you add in the fact
:01:43. > :01:48.that the cost to our national Health Service, the cost to our economy out
:01:49. > :01:52.of all of that, is ?20 billion, this really is an emergency and the idea
:01:53. > :01:56.that we are trying to fight not to take this seriously is concerning.
:01:57. > :02:00.Air pollution is a problem but it affects people differently. You are
:02:01. > :02:03.more likely to suffer if you are very old or if you're elderly. You
:02:04. > :02:06.are more likely to suffer if you're in poverty because you're more
:02:07. > :02:11.likely to be living close to very busy roads. You're more likely to
:02:12. > :02:16.suffer as well if you are not white, for the same reason, that you're
:02:17. > :02:18.more likely to be in exposed areas. We are saying loudly and clearly
:02:19. > :02:24.that this is a national health emergency. The air quality plan
:02:25. > :02:29.which we are expecting to come from the Government today absolutely has
:02:30. > :02:34.to meet some key bottom line is if it is to the aid plan which is
:02:35. > :02:38.worthy of the name and that's why we're launching this now is a
:02:39. > :02:43.challenge to the Government. As I say, first they tried to delay the
:02:44. > :02:47.publication of this air plan, claiming publishing it would
:02:48. > :02:52.unfairly influence local and national elections, but that last
:02:53. > :02:57.ditch attempt at inaction was recently rejected. In a strongly
:02:58. > :03:02.worded judgment, the High Court ruled that ministers had had plenty
:03:03. > :03:05.of time to act, having been given this deadline from the European
:03:06. > :03:09.Union and having known about it for a long time. Less than a week later,
:03:10. > :03:15.and the day before people across the country went to the polls in the
:03:16. > :03:19.local elections, the details of the plan were leaked to the Telegraph
:03:20. > :03:22.newspaper. So much for the election rules. As we wait for the
:03:23. > :03:27.Government's long overdue air pollution policy to be released, the
:03:28. > :03:29.Green Party is today releasing its ten point check list for what a
:03:30. > :03:35.serious air-pollution plan would look like. First and foremost, we
:03:36. > :03:39.are saying that it absolutely must announce a new clean air act,
:03:40. > :03:42.enshrining the right to breathe clean air into UK statute,
:03:43. > :03:46.protecting the health not just people alive today but of the two
:03:47. > :03:53.generations. It has to strengthen and expand the network of clean air
:03:54. > :03:57.zones, including here in Bristol. When you have a clean air zone, that
:03:58. > :04:02.means you take more radical action to prevent the most dirty cars going
:04:03. > :04:06.into that zone. It must introduce nothing short of public transport
:04:07. > :04:11.revolution. We need a huge investment in things like our buses,
:04:12. > :04:17.trains and public transport, because the irony is that while the cost of
:04:18. > :04:23.a car has been going down 20% since 1980, the cost of taking a bus,
:04:24. > :04:28.taking a train, has been going up by more than 60% since that same
:04:29. > :04:32.baseline, so our price signals are all wrong. We need to be investing
:04:33. > :04:37.in public transport, getting people out of their cars. To help fund this
:04:38. > :04:39.kind of comprehensive action that we need, what we're asking from the
:04:40. > :04:44.Government is that the plan that they produce must set out how car
:04:45. > :04:51.companies, he cheated vehicle emissions tests, that was over many
:04:52. > :04:55.years, those car companies have to paper the damage that that will have
:04:56. > :04:58.caused to our health and the environment. If you look at the
:04:59. > :05:04.United States where they have had a similar problem, in the US, they
:05:05. > :05:10.have managed to find those fickle companies $14 billion. That is a
:05:11. > :05:16.huge -- they have managed to find those vehicle companies $14 billion,
:05:17. > :05:21.a huge amount of money, and yet in the UK not a penny has been fined.
:05:22. > :05:29.And yet the Government, supported by opposition, continues to support the
:05:30. > :05:34.dirty vehicles up the past. Clean renewable energy must be supported,
:05:35. > :05:40.as we have it in abundance. Anything short of wide reaching action on the
:05:41. > :05:43.air-pollution emergency is unacceptable. If the Government plan
:05:44. > :05:47.isn't strong enough then it will condemn thousands of children and
:05:48. > :05:52.families to continue to suffer the deadly effects of what is an
:05:53. > :05:57.entirely preventable crisis. We believe we have the right plan, we
:05:58. > :06:00.believe that if we act now we can create a healthier future for you,
:06:01. > :06:32.for your kids, for children right across the country.
:06:33. > :06:40.The Speaker of the House of Commons demands order as things get a little
:06:41. > :06:42.rowdy in the chamber. The right honourable gentleman will be heard
:06:43. > :06:49.and the Prime Minister will be heard. The speaker is the central
:06:50. > :06:53.figure in the Commons. It is he or she who calls MPs to make their
:06:54. > :06:59.speeches, ask their questions, give their statements. Statement, the
:07:00. > :07:04.Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. It's a pretty old
:07:05. > :07:07.job, dating all the way back