Ella’s Law published – breathing clean air should be a human right

A Bill to make breathing clean air a human right has been published ahead of its second reading in the House of Commons later this month. Green MP Siân Berry presented the Bill, known as ‘Ella’s Law’, to the House of Commons in July 2025.

The right to breathe clean air

The proposals in the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill enshrine the human right to breathe clean air into UK law. They would require the government to achieve clean air throughout England by 1 January 2030. This sets out a pathway to bringing the country in line with World Health Organisation air pollution guidelines.

The Bill has cross-party backing from Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP and Independent MPs. It now contains the measures needed for the UK to be fully compliant with the very latest World Health Organisation guidelines.

The Bill’s name is in memory of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah. She died at only nine years old. And her death was the first in England where air pollution was the official cause.

Ella’s mother Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah has long campaigned for the government to introduce stricter air pollution limits. The published Bill was unveiled at an art exhibition curated by Rosamund, honouring the legacy of Ella’s life.

In Berry’s Brighton Pavilion constituency, the heavily congested Lewes Road is home to five primary schools, three nurseries and many homes. It tops the league table for the most polluted road monitored for air quality by the council. North Street, in the city centre, has at times been more polluted than London’s Oxford Street.

In 2025 alone, air pollution contributed to the equivalent of 30,000 deaths in the UK, to the cost of more than £27 billion. Polluting vehicles are a major cause.

Berry commented:

No child should have the growth of their lungs stunted because of dirty air where they live, play and go to school, yet this is the reality of air pollution in England. Ella’s Law would change this.

The government must act to make deaths and disease from dirty air a thing of the past. With serious targets, incentives and funding, every source of this silent and invisible killer could be cleaned up to prevent more harm.

For years, campaigners like Rosamund have been working hard to draw attention to this major health crisis.

I am determined to see Ella’s law voted on and passed through Parliament, and I strongly urge the government to adopt the Bill in the upcoming King’s Speech. Whatever it takes, this vital Bill must become law.

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said:

I am delighted the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill has been formally published in memory of my daughter Ella Roberta. I believe that saving lives should always be the government’s top priority, so I hope this government will take notice and commit to saving the 500 deaths per week caused by air pollution.

Each and every one of those deaths is preventable, and adopting Ella’s Law would be the most significant step forwards to try and tackle air pollution in this country. Breathing dirty air affects us all, in every constituency in the country, but we know that children, older people and marginalised communities are suffering the most.

I would like to thank Sian and the other MPs across the different political parties who have supported this Bill in Ella’s memory. It is thirteen years since my daughter died from air pollution and I can’t quite believe we are still here asking for the government to take the biggest environmental threat to our health, more seriously.

The Coroner’s recommendations to prevent future deaths have largely been ignored by the government and I hope that no more time is wasted while other children suffer like Ella did, and Ella’s Law is taken forward to protect our health.

Jemima Hartshorn, founder and director of Mums for Lungs, added:

In 2024, in London alone more than 120,000 children attended hospital with breathing issues. That is scary and frightening for them and preventable.

Our country is still Western Europe’s hotspot for childhood asthma and this has to stop. Air pollution is now linked to over 700 illnesses and we all deserve better.

When in opposition, the Labour Party promised us a Clean Air Act to protect children’s health, and we now urge them to deliver on this promise.

Featured image via the Canary