Lots to fume about

Abstract

Criticism of the UK's weak stance on air quality has been growing. With worries mounting about diesel pollution in particular, hopes were high that last week's budget would tackle this head-on. Instead, the chancellor Philip Hammond fiddled at the margins. What is attracting most attention is his rise in first-year tax for new diesel cars. Vans are exempt. As new vans are driven almost twice as far on average as new cars, this raised concerns. Here, Chatterson talks about the minimum impact of new diesel tax in reducing air pollution