THE Government will need to help drivers cover the cost of scrapping diesel vehicles, an Oxford city councillor has said.

Tom Hayes has said Westminster will have to make it easier for people in Oxford to buy cleaner cars if it wants to tackle air pollution.

Speaking after his council announced proposals to introduce the world's first zero-emissions zone in Oxford city centre, the Labour councillor said: "Our councils are leading on this issue because we’re deprived of national leadership."

Mr Hayes is also sitting on a new working group to tackle air quality in Oxford's most polluted street – St Clements – which is in his ward.

He said the group would look at all possible options, including removing the public car park on the road and moving bus stops, both of which cause the congestion which creates a fog of fumes.

Mr Hayes congratulated city council bosses and the Conservative-led county council for setting the working group up, but also said the Tory government had to play its part if Oxford was to be able to tackle the problem.

He said "The Government has to make it easier for people in Oxford to buy cleaner cars.

"We need a national fund to help drivers scrap diesel vehicles."

Mr Hayes also warned that the UK leaving the European Union created a significant risk of reducing pressure on the government to meet air pollution regulations.

At the moment, the UK is bound by EU air pollution laws, and the government was ordered by the High Court earlier this year to write a new national air pollution strategy in order to meet the European regulations, which resulted in a proposal to ban the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars in the UK by 2040.

However many criticised the government for not going further and introducing a diesel scrappage scheme helping motorists cover the cost of buying electric cars.

And, when the UK officially leaves the EU in March 2019, although the government is currently planning to adopt all current EU laws, it will not be bound to keep any of them and could change air quality targets.

Mr Hayes warned: "We need to embed the tough standards in air pollution provided by EU law, not least because campaigners have had to sue the Government multiple times in the last year over illegal air pollution from diesels."

DEFRA did not respond to a request for comment.