YES! Judges Tell Lawless Tory Government That UK Cannot Leave EU Without Parliamentary Approval

by Andy Worthington

( November 5, 2016, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Great, great, great news from the High Court, as three of the most senior judges in the UK — the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Sir Terence Etherton, the Master of the Rolls, and Lord Justice Sales — have ruled that “Parliament alone has the power to trigger Brexit by notifying Brussels of the UK’s intention to leave the European Union,” as the Guardian reported it, adding that the ruling was “likely to slow the pace of Britain’s departure from the EU and is a huge setback for Theresa May, who had insisted the government alone would decide when to trigger the process.”

Despite Theresa May’s wishful thinking, the Lord Chief Justice reminded her — and her ministers — that “the most fundamental rule of the UK constitution is that Parliament is sovereign,” something that those us with better knowledge of British democracy than our most senior ministers have been pointing out for the last four months.

Lord Thomas said, specifically, “The court does not accept the argument put forward by the government. There is nothing in the 1972 European Communities Act to support it. In the judgment of the court, the argument is contrary both to the language used by parliament in the 1972 act, and to the fundamental principles of the sovereignty of parliament and the absence of any entitlement on the part of the crown to change domestic law by the exercise of its prerogative powers.”

Unless the ruling is overturned on appeal at the Supreme Court, it “threatens to plunge the government’s plans for Brexit into disarray as the process will have to be subject to full parliamentary control,” in the Guardian’s words.

And so we have it. Finally, 133 days after the EU referendum, a body of unarguable weight and authority has told the unelected Prime Minister Theresa May and her deluded ministers that they cannot behave like tyrants. Sovereignty in the UK lies not with the Prime Minister or the Cabinet, or the 72.21% of the eligible electorate who voted in a non-binding referendum, giving a slim majority to those voting to leave the EU (by 51.9% of those who voted to 48.1%), but with Parliament.

Three-quarters of MPs support the UK remaining in the EU, so the challenge now is to persuade them to vote in the interests of the UK rather than deciding that they must comply with the narrowest of majorities in an advisory referendum that should never have been called in the first place.

I very much hope to hear in the imminent future that some of the 16.1 million people who voted to remain in the EU will be setting up a massive lobbying campaign to persuade MPs that they must not endorse any effort to leave the EU that will be an economic disaster; in other words, that preserving the single market is unarguably much more significant than efforts to curb immigration — which, it should be noted, are in any case likely to be as effective as King Canute, the Danish king of England a thousand years ago, attempting to hold back the tide.

As the ramifications of the ruling sink in, it’s worth just looking back at how we got to this ridiculous place, where Britain has become an international laughing stock — except to far-right and hard-left separatists of various kinds — and racism is now so open and so openly hostile that anyone who can be regarded as “foreign” can likely expect abuse — or, at a familiarly polite English level, controlled disdain, via, for example, inquiries about where they’re from, questions that, it should be noted, people living here for decades have never been asked before.

Disgusting Daily Mail headline today. Far from being “Enemies of the People,” the judges who ruled that the Prime Minister cannot trigger our departure from the EU without Parliament’s involvement were only confirming what Leave campaigners claimed to want – UK sovereignty. In the UK, sovereignty lies with Parliament, and not with the Prime Minister, the Cabinet or voters. Theresa May and her ministers, by seeking to exclude Parliament, were actually exercising executive tyranny, and not “frustrat[ing] the verdict of the British public,” as the Mail claims.

So let’s begin with the man who should one day be held primarily accountable for this debacle, Little “Dave” Cameron, whose arrogance was such that he called a referendum he should never have called to placate those to the right of him (the far right of the Tory Party, and the slimeball UK Independence Party), and arrogantly assumed that a campaign led by himself would walk to victory.

And yet, despite this, it turns out that Cameron was not as terrible a Prime Minister as he could have been; that award actually goes to Theresa May. Don’t get me wrong. Cameron was an irritating, patronising would-be smoothie, and his regime was foul and cruel, with an unparalleled assault on the fundamental bases of decent society (essentially, recognizing that the state provisions of services is both worthwhile and necessary, that the drive to privatise almost everything is ruinous, and that everyone is society should receive basic protections).

In his six years as Prime Minister, the country became a darker, more hard-hearted place, via — to name but a few of the main culprits — his dysfunctional, tight-fisted, austerity-obsessed Chancellor, George Osborne; the vicious Iain Duncan Smith, with his Victorian Social Darwinism, blaming the poor for their poverty by calling them dysfunctional rather than recognising them as the victims of a fundamental and ever-growing economic inequality; the slimy school destroyer Michael Gove; the supremely incompetent justice secretary, Chris “No Brain” Grayling; and the money-grabbing, social mobility-wrecking universities minister, David Willetts, known as “Two Brains” for his supposed intellect, although, as I have always noted, he may have two brains, but neither of them actually work. And, of course, let’s not forget his home secretary, Theresa May, whose dangerous authoritarianism and racism I have written about previously — see As Theresa May Becomes Prime Minister, A Look Back at Her Authoritarianism, 

Islamophobia and Harshness on Immigration

I could go on, but I think I’ve established well enough how desolate the political landscape was from May 2010, when the Tories first installed themselves back in power with the help of the hapless Lib Dems, until June 23 this year, and the EU referendum.

But amazingly, since then, the new reality has been even worse. Theresa May, it turns out, the only contender left standing after a virtual shootout that wiped out Cameron, Osborne, Boris Johnson and  Michael Gove, is not a safe pair as hands, as the Thatcher-loving right are desperate to gush about, but, as those of us paying close attention already knew, a colossally small-minded, Home Counties bigot, whose lukewarm support for the Remain campaign turned to an evangelical fervour for leaving the EU as soon as she became leader.

As a leader, she has been a disaster — visionless, rudderless, still fundamentally bigoted, and capable of wiping eye-watering amounts of money off the value of the pound every time she has opened her mouth to bleat on about pursuing a “hard Brexit.” Unable to contemplate resisting any kind of exit from the EU that would be disastrous for our economy, and for our well-being as a modern tolerant, inclusive society (which we largely were before June 23), she has blundered on, pointless and clueless, flanked by her three horsemen of the Apocalypse, her Brexit ministers — David Davis, an admirable figure over the last decade or so as the Tories’ conscience on human rights, but hopelessly out of his depth as the minister for the UK’s suicide (sorry, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union); the idiot Boris Johnson, who “won” the Brexit campaign but didn’t even want to, and has been beyond satire as foreign secretary — including at the Spectator Awards this week, when he promised that the UK would “make a Titanic success” of leaving the EU, prompting George Osborne, presenting him with a comeback of the year award, to remind him that the Titanic sank; and, last but not least, the dangerously right-wing Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for International Trade, who somehow crawled back to ministerial life after the disgrace of his companion Adam Werrity being allowed to attend meetings of international government business when Fox was defence secretary in 2010-11.

In response to today’s court ruling, a government spokesman said ministers would appeal to the Supreme Court, and it has already been announced that that hearing will take place on December 7 and 8. I am pretty much 100% convinced that the Supreme Court will not disagree with the High Court’s ruling, so today I am going to carry on celebrating the fact that, when it came down to it, and as has happened sporadically during my life, judges have been there to stop the government from turning the executive branch into a tyranny; and please, let’s not forget the irony of this coming from ministers whose reason for wanting to leave the EU was that they regarded it as having been detrimental to Britain’s own sovereignty; the sovereignty that, in closing, for now, I must once more reiterate lies with Parliament and not with the Prime Minister and her cabinet.

So now, let’s please bring on the concerted campaign to persuade MPs to vote with their brains and their hearts, and to have the courage to say what Theresa May and her Cabinet have not: that the referendum result was only advisory, and that anything that fundamentally and profoundly damages our economy to the extent that the Brexit debacle is already doing cannot be accepted based on an advisory referendum that should never have been called and whose alleged victory was only secured with majority so slim that it does not represent a sufficient mandate for such devastating upheaval.

Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer, film-maker and singer-songwriter (the lead singer and main songwriter for the London-based band The Four Fathers, whose debut album ‘Love and War’ and EP ‘Fighting Injustice’ are available here to download or on CD via Bandcamp).

Indonesia: One killed, seven injured after hardline Muslim protest turns violent

Protesters throw sticks and mineral water bottles during a clash with the police outside the presidential palace in Jakarta. Pic: AP

5th November 2016 

A PROTEST by hardline Muslims in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta has resulted in violence, with police confirming one person has died and seven injured during clashes between protesters and police.

An elderly man died during the protest, possibly from the effects of tear gas, said Jakarta police spokesman Awi Setiyono on Friday. Four other civilians and three police officers sustained injuries.

An estimated 50,000 people marched upon the presidential palace in protest of the nation’s first ethnic Chinese minister and minority Christian, Jakarta Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who has been accused of blasphemy by reportedly joking about a passage in the Quran.

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Massive crowd rallies against ‘blasphemous’ Jakarta governor

Headbands with the words “Arrest Ahok” and banners with slogans such as “Ahok is an enemy of Islam” were seen during the march. Clashes broke out between police and hard-core protesters who refused to disperse following nightfall.

Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for protesters not to “create havoc” prior to the rally, and left the palace just before the rally began, reports the Jakarta Post. Jokowi blamed political meddling for the violence that took place on Friday.

According to Tempo.co, Jokowi criticized demonstrators who did not disperse at the appointed time, and said he regretted the violence. He was quoted saying: “Political actors are taking advantage of the situation.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Bank of England warns of tougher times to come

Bank of England warns of tougher times to come

Thursday 03 Nov 2016

It was the best of times it was the worst of times: No rate cut needed and better growth thanks to unrelenting consumer spending. But prices set to rise as sterling slides and companies suspend investment in the face of a hard Brexit. And most tellingly the prospect of an interest rate hike now looming on the horizon.

The Bank of England may have delivered better short term growth prospects but the broad picture was of an economy facing more challenges and consumers exposed to a sharper pinch in their back pockets.
The main reason is that real incomes are now set to be squeezed further with the impact of Brexit fuelling supermarket price rises and a cut in corporate investment.

The bank laid bare a stark view of how quickly inflation will rise, jumping to as much as 2.83pc in June 2018 from 1pc where it sits now. For people doing their weekly shop this will put a huge strain on their finances given wages are set to grow less than anticipated in August.

In fact, the bank’s inflation estimate is the biggest overshoot of its 2pc target since the inauguration of its remit in 1997 when it became independent.

But the truth is that the bank’s view is fairly conservative compared to other economists, with think tank NIESR predicting inflation will spike as much as 4pc. If inflation goes this high it is hard to see how much the bank can avoid being bounced into a rate hike.

In the Inflation Report the BoE says that while the continuing slide of sterling has made the situation more extreme, ‘attempting to offset it fully with tighter monetary policy would be excessive and costly in terms of forgone output and employment growth’. Said plainly, the bank has decided to ignore its inflation remit for now by not hiking rates because it thinks this would further damage growth and increase unemployment.

The big caveat is that while the bank explains a list of vague conditions for ‘looking through’ high inflation, it does state unequivocally that there are ‘limits to the extent to which above target inflation can be tolerated’. Something reiterated by recent comments made by the Governor Mark Carney.

Overall growth is now forecast to be 2.8pc weaker over the next three years compared with estimates before the Brexit vote. In fact, despite growth being revised up in Q3 this year from 0pc to 0.5pc and from 0.1pc in Q4 to 0.4pc – over the three year forecast period – GDP is now set to be lower than even expected in August at the nadir of the market shock to Brexit.

It’s been a tough few weeks for the Governor Mark Carney as Tory elders reproached him for being too political and the Prime Minister criticised the bank for dolling out quantitive easing in a world where inequality is exaggerated by booming asset prices.

Perhaps that’s why in the inflation report the bank is so quick to claim credit for the stabilisation of the pound in the aftermath of the referendum by introducing more QE and cutting rates. A measure while unpopular with backbench Tories has been credited by many economists for increasing market confidence.

For Crispin Odey, the star hedge fund manager, the actions of the bank have only led to asset bubbles in the stock market and a delay in an inevitable recession – one he claims would be healthy for the UK economy.

‘We are running out of reasons for not having a recession,’ Mr Odey told Channel 4 News. ‘Recession is seen as too dangerous but maybe it’s not such a bad thing’ said Mr Odey pointing to the productivity damage done to the UK economy.

But while there is some merit in the creative destruction theory that reinvigorates the economy by weeding out weaker companies and more expensive-less productive staff – ultimately recessions tend to hurt the poorest in society most.

Dozens arrested for attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

A Hindu priest offers blessings of light to Hindu devotees during a candle light prayer in Dhaka

 Sun Nov 6, 2016

Police in Bangladesh have arrested dozens of people following fresh violence against Hindus, a senior officer said on Sunday, after a spate of attacks prompted concerns the authorities were not doing enough to protect the country's biggest minority.

Hindu homes and temples in the Brahmanbairs district of eastern Bangladesh have come under attack during the last week, after a local youth allegedly shared a Facebook post that Islamic hardliners said denigrated the Masjid al-Haram — a holy site for Muslims.

Muslim hardliners protested and demanded action against the Hindu youth, who denies sharing the post. Police arrested the youth for hurting religious sentiment, but the arrest failed to defuse tension and quell the rioting.

Abu Zafar, the officer in charge of Nasir Nagar police station in the district, told reporters that so far 53 people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in attacks and looting from Hindu homes.

Attacks on Hindus, who make up around 8 percent of the population, and other religious minorities are not uncommon in the mostly Muslim South Asian country, but the scale of the recent anti-Hindu violence is unusual.

Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has launched an investigation into the attacks. The head of its fact-finding committee said the violence was the result of a "pre-planned conspiracy", and criticized local authorities for allowing the demonstrations that triggered the rioting to go ahead.

"The administration, including police, was negligent and callous in handling such a sensitive issue," the NHRC's Enamul Hoque Chowdhury told Reuters.

The violence comes amid international concern about rising Islamist militancy in Bangladesh and the growing influence of Islamic State in the country.

In July, Islamists carried out an attack on a cafe in an upscale district of the capital, Dhaka, in which 22 people were killed - mostly non-Muslims and foreigners, including one American.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) estimates more than 100 Hindu houses and 17 temples have been vandalized and looted since the violence began on Oct 30.

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary at the BHBCUC, told Reuters the violence was aimed at driving people from their homes.

"The purpose of the attacks is to free this soil from the minority community and also to occupy their properties and assets," he said.

(Reporting by Serajul Quadir, Writing by Rajesh Kumar Singh, Editing by Larry King and Alex Richardson)

Clinton leads by five points nationally as Trump personality concerns persist, Post-ABC Tracking Poll finds

The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll shows Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat nationally. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

By Emily Guskin and Scott Clement November 6 at 12:01 AM

After running even with Donald Trump early last week, Hillary Clinton now holds a five-point lead in the latest Post-ABC Tracking Poll overall, as well as clear advantages on several personal attributes.

Enthusiasm for Clinton and Trump now stands at rough parity, both significantly lower than it was among supporters of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney four years ago. But Clinton has a clear advantage in affirmative support, with 55 percent of her backers saying the main reason they are voting for her is because they support her, compared with 43 percent of Trump voters. More Trump voters say they are voting for him mainly because they oppose Clinton.

The Post-ABC poll finds Clinton with a 48 percent to 43 percent lead in overall vote preferences, just on the edge of statistical significance but continuing a clear trend of improvement since the race was locked at 46 percent at the beginning of last week. Clinton has benefited from more united support from non-white voters as well as with “pure” political independents who do not lean toward either party.

Clinton’s advantage in the tracking poll is slightly larger than her standing in other national surveys released in the past week. Clinton was up three points in a CBS News/New York Times poll, two points in a Fox News poll, one point in a McClatchy-Marist poll and tied in the IBD/TIPP daily poll released Saturday — results that lean in her favor, but not by a significant margin.

[Read full poll results | Graphic: Who key groups are supporting]

The new Post-ABC poll asked voters which candidate they favored across five personal attributes debated during the campaign, including honesty, empathy, qualifications, moral character and temperament.

Clinton holds clear advantages on four of the five qualities, some by very large margins. By 58 percent to 32 percent, more voters prefer Clinton’s personality and temperament, and by 55 percent to 36 percent, more say she has better qualifications for the job than Trump does. The Democratic nominee also holdsan eight-point advantage on the question of which candidate has a better understanding of the “problems of people like you,” and a seven-point lead when voters are asked which candidate has stronger moral character.

But Trump maintains a 44 percent to 40 percent edge over Clinton on which candidate is more honest and trustworthy, though that result is down from an eight-point edge earlier this week after the FBI announced the discovery of additional emails that might be relevant to from their investigation of her use of a private server while secretary of state.

While voter preference on candidate qualities seemed clear, they were more closely split on who they trust to deal with major policy issues. A previous wave of the Post-ABC Tracking Poll released this week found neither candidate held a double-digit advantage on trust to handle the economy, terrorism, immigration, health care or corruption in government.

There are sizable minorities of Trump and Clinton supporters who do not vouch for some of their personal qualities. About 82 percent of Clinton supporters say she is more honest and trustworthy than Trump, while 18 percent do not, saying neither is better than the other or that they have no opinion. Defections from Trump are sharpest on the issue of personality and temperament, with 27 percent of his backers saying he does not have a better personality and temperament than Clinton; 17 percent say he is not more qualified. Fewer than 3 in 10 of these voters say their vote for Trump is mainly because they support him, while two-thirds say they are mainly voting against Clinton.

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Voters’ opinions on the personal traits of Clinton and Trump are closely tied to which candidate they support. But the poll finds the connection is closer on the question of which candidate “better understand the problems of people like you.” Fully 84 percent of likely voters say they support the candidate who is more empathetic, while only 1 percent choose the opposite. The connection is weakest for temperament, with 77 percent supporting the candidate they prefer on this question while 6 percent choose the opposite (nearly all of them Trump supporters).

The contrast between the candidates’ results on personal characteristics helps explain Trump’s historically weak standing among white women with college degrees. In the 2012 election, Republican Mitt Romney won that group by six points. Today, the Post-ABC poll finds Clinton leads that group by 16 points, 54 percent to 38 percent. 

On all five attributes measured, white college-educated women prefer Clinton to Trump, and are more likely to say so than voters overall. White women college graduates are 12 points more likely than voters overall to say Clinton has better temperament than voters overall, 10 points more likely on “moral character,” nine points more likely on empathy, eight points on honesty and seven points on overall qualifications. 

In contrast to Trump’s struggles on personal traits among college-educated white women, he fared well compared to Clinton when it comes to being trusted to handle some top issues in a previous wave of the Post-ABC Tracking poll this week (where Trump fared slightly better in overall voting). Trump topped Clinton by six points on this group in trust to handle terrorism and national security, five points on handling corruption and four points on the economy, while trailing by seven on immigration and health care alike.

This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted on cellular and landline phones Nov. 1-4, 2016, among a random national sample of 1,685 likely voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by Abt-SRBI of New York.

BREAKING: Heavily Armed Police Outside Julian Assange’s Ecuadorian Shelter

What Others Are Reading

October 21, 2016

State actors dressed in police uniforms are gathering outside of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange is currently seeking asylum.

Assange has been able to publish devastating emails about Hillary Clinton wherein evidence suggests she has been committing many crimes. The most recent charge is that she received debate questions in advance so that she had plenty of time to rehearse scripted answers, which gave her an unfair advantage over her opponents. In the view of many, this is contrary to the spirit of a free, fair, and open election procedure and would render her illegitimate as a candidate.

Even more serious are charges that she helped run a company that funneled money to arm ISIS for geopolitical interests — a high crime that would possibly lead to her arrest.

Earlier last week Assange’s access to the internet was abruptly cut off.

Now preliminary reports are stating that police — or perhaps even private mercenaries hired by somebody and made to resemble police — are right outside Julian Assange’s location.

Wikileaks captured what it could of the officers and tweeted out the alert:

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PHOTO: Heavily armed 'police' appear outside Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Julian Assange has political asylum (photo, Tuesday morning)

11:48 AM - 21 Oct 2016

 
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Wikileaks has said that Julian Assange is currently still alive.

Though many fear that his life is in jeopardy, after he has been threatened with assassination. Hillary Clinton has directly called for a drone strike to execute him.

Assange is believed to have as many as 17,000 more emails which will be made available soon, and it is suspected that those emails will reveal information leading to Hillary Clinton’s arrest.

Hillary’s response has been to blame Russia for the fact that Assange has the emails. The prospect of entering a nuclear exchange with Russia just so Hillary’s crimes aren’t revealed to the American citizenry is profoundly troubling.

In addition to a heavy police presence approaching Assange’s location, the top news today was a nationwide shutdown of the Internet’s architecture, which many suspect is related to silencing Assange and which the US Government is labeling a “cyber attack.”

This article will be updated as more information is made available.

Mark Zuckerberg Is Being Investigated By German Prosecutors for Hate Speech on Facebook

We doubt Mark Zuckerberg is going to “like” this update.

BY EMILY TAMKIN-NOVEMBER 4, 2016

On Nov. 4, Der Spiegel announced that prosecutors in Munich are opening an investigation into Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and some fellow executives for possible criminal incitement and hate speech, as Facebook’s policies may be in violation of Germany’s hate speech laws. That’s according to the criminal complaint filed by attorney Chan-jo Jun in Munich, Germany in September. At the time, a Facebook spokesperson said the complaint had no merit.

Jun filed an earlier complaint in Hamburg last year, but it went nowhere because the prosecutors, according to Der Spiegel, determined that Facebook was not under German jurisdiction. Prosecutors in Munich seem to indicate that German laws might just apply to the tech giant—or, at least, they are willing to see if they do.

Also under investigation are Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Facebook’s European and German regional managers, Richard Allan and Eva-Maria Kirschsieper, respectively.

Jun wants the the Facebook executives to be forced to remove from the site the postings he believes fall afoul of German law. He included in his filing438 posts that allegedly contained racism, incitements to violence, and references to Nazis and the Holocaust. Facebook is certainly not the only social media platform to be criticized for its laissez-faire approach to hate speech — Twitter has been in the cross-hairs this election cycle — but there are only 4 million Twitter users in Germany. In February, Zuckerberg announced that he and Facebook would work with Germany to combat hate speech on his platform.

This is but the latest piece of bad news for Zuckerberg this week. Despite strong third quarter growth, Facebook CFO Dave Wehner warned investors Wednesday that future advertising revenue growth for the over $370-billion company will slow “meaningfully.”  That walloped the value of Zuckerberg’s stake in the company, leaving him $3 billion poorer.

If there is a word to sum up such problems unique to the very rich and very powerful, it’s sure to be a tongue-trippingly German creation.  

Photo credit: KAY NIETFELD/AFP/Getty Images

Indian government declares Delhi air pollution an emergency

Capital’s schools closed for three days and building work halted as harmful pollutants reach level more than 16 times safe limit

 Young Indian runners take part in the New Delhi 10k Challenge amid heavy smog on Sunday. Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images

Michael Safi-Sunday 6 November 2016 

The Indian government has declared severe levels of toxic air pollution in Delhian “emergency situation” as administrators announce a plan to temporarily shut construction sites and a coal-fired power station to bring the situation under control.

Schools in the capital will be closed for three days and traffic may be rationed, following six days of heavy smog and concentrations of harmful particles so high they cannot be measured by most air quality instruments.

The level of PM2.5 pollutants, which are the most harmful because they can reach deep into the lungs and breach the blood-brain barrier, have reached at least 999 in parts of the city this week, more than 16 times the safe limit of 60.

On Sunday, Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, announced emergency measures aimed at protecting residents, including a five-day ban on construction and demolition, thought to be a major contributor to pollution levels.

Bulldozers are to be used to put out fires at the Bhalswa landfill, which constantly smoulders.

Kejriwal said: “People should stay home as much as they can [and] work from home.”

A coal-fired power station in Badarpur, south-east Delhi, will stop operating for 10 days, along with diesel generators in the city.

Kejriwal has called on neighbouring states to enforce laws against burning agricultural waste.

Around this time each year, hundreds of thousands of farmers in Haryana and Punjab set their fields on fire to dispose of crop remnants, sending smoke billowing across India’s northern plains.

The Delhi government is preparing to reintroduce a temporary scheme to only allow cars to drive on odd or even days depending on the last digit of their registration numbers.

Airborne pollution in Delhi rarely stays within safe levels, even during summer, when winds are stronger and dust and droplets disperse more easily in the hot air.

It is traditionally worst in the winter months, beginning with Diwali, when hundreds of thousands of fireworks are let off across the city. They leave a haze that usually lasts for two or three days, but has persisted for almost a week this year.

The Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based NGO, has said the air quality is the worst the Indian capital had seen in 17 years.

Hospitals in the city have reported increased admissions of people suffering respiratory diseases – of which India has the highest rate in the world, with 159 deaths per 100,000 people in 2012, according to the World Health Organisation.

Children are particularly vulnerable, a 2015 study finding about half the city’s 4.4 million schoolchildren had stunted lung development and would never completely recover.

Arti Maria, an associate professor of paediatrics at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital told local media the air was “killing presently”.

“[The] presence of even little smoke is considered harmful for newborn and toddlers. The air quality right now can lead to slow brain development, mental irritation and psychological problems,” she said.

Businesses are reportedly suffering as a result of this week’s fog and the low visibility was blamed for a 20-car pile up a major Delhi expressway on Thursday.

The city struggled with poor air quality in the 1990s but managed to clear its atmosphere by raising emissions standards for vehicles, mandating its fleet of taxis and buses use compressed natural gas and moving some heavy industry to the outskirts of the city.

Other than smoke from fires in neighbouring states, the city’s poor air is attributed to a combination of road dust, exhaust fumes, industrial emissions and open fires, including those lit by poorer residents to cook and keep warm.