Passing Ella's Law will 'save lives' argue campaigners for clean air

BILL IN NAME OF GIRL, 9, WHO DIED FROM ASTHMA TO BE REINTRODUCED

- By REBECCA SPEARE-COLE

A CROSS-PARTY group of MPs said they will reintroduce a bill in the name of a nine-year-old schoolgirl who died from an asthma attack linked to air pollution.

Dubbed "Ella's Law," the proposed legislation is named after Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who lived 82ft from the busy South Circular Road in Lewisham and suffered the fatal asthma attack in February 2013.

She became the first person to have air pollution listed as a cause of death following a landmark inquest in 2020.

Sian Berry, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion will present the bill to the House of Commons with a speech on Tuesday July 1, with the aim of making clean air a human right under UK law.

If passed, the bill would require the Government to achieve clean air throughout England by January 1 2030, setting out a pathway to bring the country in line with World Health Organisation air pollution guidelines.

She has so far been backed by cross-party Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP and Independent MPs but hopes that more will support the bill and it will be picked up by the Government in the next King's Speech.

Ella's mother Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah has long campaigned for the Government to introduce stricter air pollution limits since her daughter died.