A group of 150 scientists, MPs and activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, have called on the prime minister Andy Burnham to hold a national air pollution inquiry into the disproportionate health burden borne by lower-income and minority-ethnic communities. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies underpins the call, finding that poorer areas of England have persistently higher pollution levels than wealthier ones, and that minority-ethnic populations face air pollution exposure roughly 6% above that experienced by white populations.
The letter argues that, despite well-established links between air pollution and conditions including heart disease, strokes, cancer, asthma and impaired lung development in children, the UK still lacks a dedicated mechanism for tackling the resulting health inequalities.
Hospital admissions and city-level data
The call comes alongside figures that Mums for Lungs obtained via freedom of information requests, revealing that over 200,000 children were admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties during 2025 across 11 English cities and areas, among them London, Greater Manchester and Birmingham. Of those, more than 120,000 were babies and toddlers admitted to A&E or hospital. Children are classed as particularly vulnerable because their lungs are still developing and they breathe proportionally more air than adults relative to their body size.
In Manchester specifically, admissions of babies and toddlers rose from 653 in 2023 to 1,072 in 2025. Mums for Lungs drew attention to Burnham’s decision, taken when he was mayor of Greater Manchester in 2023, to scrap plans for a clean air zone, saying it raised questions about whether adequate action had been taken to reduce pollution. The group’s founder, Jemima Hartshorn, described the situation as an ‘air pollution emergency’. ‘Behind every number is a child who is struggling to breathe and a family looking for help. We cannot keep treating dirty air as inevitable or acceptable,’ she said.
Legal breaches and the case for an inquiry
According to new government data, illegal levels of air pollution were still recorded in 2025 in parts of London, Glasgow and Bristol. Traffic emissions remain the leading source of concern, with petrol and diesel vehicles releasing a range of toxic pollutants. London’s ultra-low emission zone has reduced exposure in the capital, with research finding that children’s lungs grew bigger and stronger as a result of the policy, though illegal levels persist in some areas.
Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose nine-year-old daughter became the first person in the UK to have air pollution recorded on their death certificate, said a ‘failure of inaction by all the main political parties over so many years, has meant the UK population is exposed to illegal levels of emissions’.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: ‘Air quality continues to improve over the longer term and while most air quality standards are being met, more action is needed to protect communities.’ The spokesperson added that the government’s ‘ambitious new targets will cut harmful particle exposure by nearly a third by 2030’, with local authorities expected to contribute through clean air plans and monitoring.