A Labour MP has warned of the “deeply poisonous” atmosphere around Westminster as he urged action over air pollution.

Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) claimed that “all the people who work in this Parliament were breathing in poisonous air”.

Speaking during Commons Business questions he added that “when you come inside this building that air follows you in and levels of contamination of air are as bad in here as out next to a diesel bus outside”.

Responding, House of Commons leader Mark Spencer insisted clean air was an “important issue which the Government takes seriously”.

Mr Sheerman said: “Does the leader of the House agree with me that every one of our constituents deserves the inalienable right to breath clean air?

“On national Clean Air Day, is he concerned that all the people who work in this Parliament were breathing in poisonous air yesterday?

“The measurement around Westminster was so bad, there was such a high level of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere, it was deeply poisonous and…when you come inside this building that air follows you in and levels of contamination of air are as bad in here as out next to a diesel bus outside.

“Could we have an early debate on how we tackle clean air for everyone in our country?”

Mr Spencer replied: “That’s why we’re investing in infrastructure to try and improve the quality of our vehicles, to move towards electric vehicles, there’s the Environment Bill which we’ve recently passed.

“We’re also looking at investment in our energy production infrastructure to move to more renewable sources, but of course we need to proceed at a pace that our constituents and consumers can afford, but that infrastructure is coming and is coming very quickly.”

Labour’s Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) called on the Government to “commit to international health targets on air quality levels and be ambitious”.

She said: “Today is Clean Air Day and air pollution is one of the biggest threats to our health which causes around 64,000 premature deaths a year and we know that this Government has failed to take meaningful action to tackle air pollution.

“In my own constituency the PM 2.5 concentration level is more than two times higher that of the WHO.

“Now everybody deserves to breath clean air and it is beyond me as to why this Government will not commit to international health targets on air quality levels and be ambitious, so can we have a statement on what action the Government is going to take to tackle air quality?”

Mr Spencer said: “(She) will have the opportunity at Defra questions next week if she chooses to ask the secretary of state directly, but the Environmental Bill was a huge step forward in improving our environment.

“There’s a transport bill coming up, it’s something that the Government is committed to improving, clean air and on clean air day I think it’s worth recognising the progress we’ve made, although there’s further to go.”