UK fails to apply environmental law on air quality, water standards, and the conservation of several species, EU review reveals

An EU review has revealed multiple failings by the UK in applying environmental law, on the same day that the commission escalated its action against Britain for breaching air pollution limits.

Britain has been in breach of EU nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limits since 2010, with London overshooting its annual air pollution limit for the whole of 2017 in just the first five days.

The Guardian understands that a “reasoned opinion” will now be sent on 15 February to the UK and four other countries: Germany, France, Italy and Spain. If a satisfactory response is not received within two months, a case at the European court could follow.

“In principle it could start later this year, but first we have to decide on a referral to court,” an EU source said. “Your goal is always to get them [infringing countries] to comply without taking them to court.”

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An estimated 50,000 Britons die prematurely each year from diseases caused by air pollutants such as fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, according to the review.

Six million working days are lost from pollution-related illnesses annually, at a cost of €28bn per year, it says.

News of the court move was welcomed by Seb Dance, the Labour MEP who was photographed behind Nigel Farage in parliament with a sign saying “he’s lying to you” last week. “It is great that the EU is doing this,” he said. “It shows the value of being in the union and having recourse to action when standards are breached.”

A high-profile environmental case against the UK at the European court of justice could inflame eurosceptic passions, as fears grow on the continent about the potential shock waves from Brexit.

Britain is already failing in its application of laws on air quality, water standards, and the conservation of several species, particularly marine porpoises, according to the latest review.

If Theresa May makes good on her threat to turn the UK into a low tax zone off the shores of Europe because a Brexit deal cannot be reached, environmentalists fear a further deterioration.

Pieter de Pous, the deputy director of the European environment bureau, said: “This review is the latest sobering reminder of the UK government’s shameful lack of ambition when it comes to environmental protection.

“Given Theresa May’s extremely worrying threats to turn the UK into a tax and deregulation haven post-Brexit, any future deal granting the UK access to the single market must come with strict conditions – and rock-solid guarantees from the UK – to ensure that it complies with existing and future EU environmental law.”

Commission sources said that Brexit would have “economic implications” for EU environmental policy, but that it was too early to speculate what they might be.

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The Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said that May’s failure to include environmental protections among the 12-points of her Brexit white paper was “a clear indication that to be charitable, the environment is not at the top of her list and, to be more cynical, that Brexit is partly being driven by a desire to reduce environmental standards as part of a bonfire of the regulations”.

She said: “Using attempts to destroy our own standards as a bargaining chip is something I find extraordinary. It’s absurd. Who would go into a negotiation like that? Our weaknesses in leaving the EU throw us into the hands of the US when it is being run by a president and cabal who are deeply anti-environment and climate action. It leaves our environment very vulnerable.”

In an interview with Michael Gove last month, Trump railed against “environmental tricks” by the EU, which he claimed had prevented him from building a sea wall to protect a golf course in Ireland.

The construction works would have destroyed the natural habitat of the 2mm long narrow-mouthed whorl snail.

Conservatives hoping to lure the US into a rapid free-trade deal may be frustrated to discover that the UK is still obliged to draw up a strategy for protecting bats and the great-crested newt under EU birds and habitat laws, which will continue to apply until Britain has finally departed the union.

Full compliance with the EU’s waste recycling laws by 2020 could net €42bn of savings across Europe and create 400,000 new jobs, according to the EU study.