"If you saw the 30 GPs with the largest number of respiratory problems, 24 of those are in outer London.”
The Mayor of London has given an impassioned defence of his decision to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) across all London Boroughs, saying that he had seen the devastating consequences of air pollution.
Appearing on LBC, Khan highlighted how there were now ‘third fewer children being admitted to hospital with asthma related illnesses caused by air pollution’ as a result of ULEZ.
Tweeting a clip of his appearance, the Mayor of London wrote: “I took the decision to expand the ULEZ because experts believe it will save lives. It wasn’t an easy one, but we cannot delay action when toxic air is linked with conditions like cancer and dementia. Air pollution particles have even been found in the brains of unborn babies.”
Khan went on to tell listeners on LBC: “We know that ULEZ is effective. How do we know that? Because in central London when we introduced the ULEZ we saw a reduction of almost 50% of the toxicity in our air, there are third fewer children being admitted to hospital with asthma related illnesses caused by air pollution, we’ve expanded it in London and we’ve seen a further improvement of 20% in our air.
“But in outer London is where the worst air is, the ten boroughs with the largest number of premature deaths are in outer London, if you saw the 30 GPs with the largest number of respiratory problems, 24 of those are in outer London.”
The mayor also said that we can’t afford to delay the expansion of ULEZ ‘because of the number of premature deaths and ill health caused by air pollution.’
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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