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MPs from across London have today warned that Boris Johnson is putting public health at risk by spending large sums of taxpayers' money deliberately hiding London's air pollution.
In a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Caroline Spelman, London's Labour MPs condemn Boris Johnson for spending £1.5 million of public money gluing harmful pollutants to the road in an attempt to artificially reduce the readings around air quality monitoring stations.
The letter warns that spraying pollution suppressants in front of official air quality monitors does nothing to affect actual emissions; it simply misleads the people of London about the quality of the air they are breathing, while putting the UK at risk of millions of pounds of fines for failing to comply with European law for reducing air pollution in the UK.
Barry Gardiner MP said:
"The parents of London’s 3 million children will wonder what on earth Boris thinks he is doing. They want action to improve air quality not to cover it up. This is like putting an oxygen mask on the canary in the mines!
"Asthma and other illnesses caused by air pollution are estimated by the government to cost the UK more than £8.5 billion each year. Artificially reducing particulates directly in front of official air quality monitors perpetrates a fraud on the public health.”