Legal tangles go beyond Brexit and affect local air quality - letter to Sevenoaks Chronicle

Dear Editor,

The Brexiteers at Chevening Park are in a tangle again. It's surprising they need to be reminded by judges what parliamentary sovereignty means. Even more disappointing that they want to appeal to secure a judgement that would enable ministers to take away citizens' rights without asking Parliament.

But Ministers lost another case in court ten days ago, and it's one which impacts directly on Sevenoaks. They were told that government policies on air pollution break the laws on clean air that Parliament has passed.

Here in Sevenoaks we have some of the dirtiest air in Kent - in Westerham, at Bat & Ball, Riverhead and in Sevenoaks High Street. Most of it is caused by cars and heavy vehicles on local roads, and it chokes our children as they go to school. The District Council measures it, hides the results on an obscure of its website, and does nothing to fix the problem. And Government colludes by its failure to enforce environmental laws.

Will ministers appeal this judgement too, and demand the right to choke our children. Will the press condemn judges as 'enemies of the people' for ruling that the law be upheld?

I wonder.

Yours sincerely

Alan Bullion

Parliamentary Spokesman, Sevenoaks and Swanley Lib Dems