The UK government is under renewed pressure this week to introduce a new Clean Air Act to tackle the UK’s toxic levels of air pollution.

The Clean Air in London campaign and Green Party member Baroness Jenny Jones have released a proposed clean air bill calling for breathing clean air to be a human right.

Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, said “Many people are calling for a new Clean Air Act that will update legislation for modern fuels and technologies and address the need to reduce harmful air emissions to zero to protect human health and the environment.

“Clean Air in London (CAL) is pleased therefore to have worked with Baroness Jenny Jones (Green) and others to produce a complementary draft Clean Air Bill that would establish ‘clean air’ as a fundamental human right in law and propose wide ranging principles and detailed legislative provisions.”

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) has also called on the government to introduce “a modern Clean Air Act, equivalent to the one produced in the 1950s in response to London’s Great Smog, in order to reduce harmful emissions across the UK.”

Philippa Oldham, lead author of the IME report, said commuters around the UK were breathing dangerous levels of pollution every day.