Ministers will announce today that the most polluting fuels, including coal, will be phased out by 2023

The sale of bags of coal and wet wood for domestic fires will be banned in England from February next year under plans to remove a huge source of air pollution.

Ministers will announce today that the most polluting fuels will be phased out completely by 2023 in a victory for The Times’s Clean Air for All campaign.

Wood-burning stoves and coal fires are the single largest source of fine particles, which are the most dangerous form of air pollution because their microscopic size allows them to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

Emissions of fine particles have fallen by 78 per cent since 1970 but rose by 1.8 per cent between 2017 and 2018 because of an increase in