Matthew is taking part in a unique experiment to determine the levels of air pollution in London and his constituency of Hendon. Parliament's Environmental Audit Select Committee is conducting an inquiry into air pollution and five members of the committee have volunteered to wear an air quality monitor to demonstrate levels of pollution in different parts of the country. Researchers at Kings College, London, have fitted the air quality monitors to the MPs and asked them to take readings at Parliament Square, Oxford street, City Hall and in their own constituencies. 

Tens of thousands of people in Britain are dying prematurely every year because they live and work near busy roads, breathing in exhaust and diesel fumes, carcinogenic chemicals and tiny particles of tyre, soot and break pad.

The problem is so bad that the UK Government has been taken to the European Court of Justice because our cities are repeatedly breaching EU air quality targets that are intended to protect public health. Under current policies the UK will fail to achieve 'safe' limits on air quality in London until 2030. Tyneside, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield and Bristol will not meet the same standards until 2025.

Matthew said: "There is clear evidence that air pollution impairs children's lung and mental capacity, causes cancer and aggravates heart disease, asthma and respiratory illnesses. The Government must take immediate action to prevent further premature deaths. London has some of the worst levels of NO2 air pollution in the world. Oxford street nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels are more than three times the EU safety limit by containing an average mean of 135 micrograms of NO2 per cubic metre of air. 

We will have to wait until 2020 before the Mayor of London introduces an Ultra Low Emission zone to ban dirty vehicles from driving in the capital. The Hendon constituency has several strategic roads including the M1, A1, A406 and the A5. This means that as local residents we are  subjected to poor levels of air quality in addition to the visits we make into central London." 

Matthew is pictured with Environmental Audit Committee Chairman Joan Walley MP in Parliament Square with the air quality monitors