Fifteen years on from when the congestion charge was introduced pollution in London is still a huge problem. In 2017, there were 131 homicides in London – that is about one homicide every 3 days. However, one silent killer you may be unaware of is the toxic pollution all around us. Over 9,000 Londoners are dying prematurely every year due to the toxic air - That is 24 dying prematurely every day. This makes pollution 68 times more deadly than homicides.

There are numerous pollutants which cause these staggering deaths: nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, Carbon monoxide and carbon particulates.  Carbon monoxide is formed when petrol or diesel are burned. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are produced as a result of road traffic other fossil fuel combustion processes.

One crucial error the government in 2001 was the promotion of diesel cars over petrol. This was done to by having cheaper diesel vehicle tax rates over petrol causing lots of people to switch to diesel which resulted in a large rise in nitrogen oxide and carbon particulates.

The government really need to up their game to significantly reduce the amount of pollution in London. One of the long-term solutions is to promote renewable energy. Unfortunately, the government have cut almost all grants for solar power in UK homes in 2016 causing the amount of solar power generated on UK homes to intensely slow growth.

Another way, the government could reduce pollution is by putting more resources into public transport. This is because there seem to be endless delays on buses, tubes and trains due to strikes. One third of trains are delayed and about 20% of buses arriving late

Overall, I believe the government need to significantly reduce the amount of pollution in London and around the UK by investing in long-term renewable energy projects as well as investing more into public transport as well as promoting the use electric cars.