News from James Cleverly (past staff): Volkswagen should pay for new scheme to clean London’s air

Volkswagen should fund the proposed Diesel Scrappage Scheme, which offers up to £2000 to recycle older diesels vehicles, according to GLA Conservative James Cleverly.

This funding would act as a goodwill gesture to make up for the potential environmental damage caused by their so-called ‘defeat devices’.

James will bring up his proposal with London’s Mayor at Wednesday’s Mayor’s Question Time.

James Cleverly MP, GLA Conservative Assembly Member environment spokesman, said:

A series of cons have put Londoners lungs and wallets in a bad place. The first con was that diesel is cleaner when it wasn’t. The second con was Volkswagen’s cheating on emissions tests. Because of both, people who were trying to do the environment a favour are stuck with worse polluting vehicles. It’s time for VW to make amends. Fund London’s Diesel Scrappage Scheme, and help us get hundreds of thousands of polluting motors off the road.

Proposed last year by the Mayor of London, the Diesel Scrappage Scheme would offer a grant up to £2,000 per vehicle for the most polluting diesels which are more than 12 months old.

Diesel vehicles have been shown to emit up to 10 times the fine particles (PM2.5s and PM10s) and double the NO2 compared to petrol vehicles. Both fine particulate and NO2 are playing a part in London’s poor air quality.