UK to ban new diesel, petrol cars by 2040

The UK said it would ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 in an effort to tackle pollution and the risks to public health.

Following in the footsteps of French President Emmanuel Macron, who pledged a ban by the same date, the government said it would publish its controversial clean air strategy.

In its announcement, the government said poor air quality "is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK".

Ministers will also unveil a £255m fund to help councils tackle emissions from diesel vehicles, as part of a £3bn package of spending on air quality. This would include the creation of "clean air zones", which the government believes is the fastest route to cutting harmful gases.

Government plans to tackle the nitrogen dioxide emitted by diesel vehicles were deemed so inept that they were ruled illegal by the courts in April and ministers were ordered to start again and produce revised proposals by the end of July.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the government would give more than £200m to local authorities to draw up plans to tackle particular roads with high pollution.

"What we're saying to local authorities is come up with an imaginative solution to these proposals," he told the BBC.

Some of these localised measures could altering road layouts, re-phasing traffic lights to improve traffic flow and retrofitting buses to make them cleaner.

There was a sharp spike in the sale of diesel vehicles during the last Labour government which encouraged drivers to switch in order to cut carbon emissions from petrol vehicles that produced greenhouse gases.

Since then medical research has shown that the nitrogen oxide produced by diesel engines was a threat to human health in congested cities.