Living in some of the UK’s most polluted towns and cities can harm your health as much as smoking up to 160 cigarettes a year.

Campaigners have said pollution is now a ‘public health emergency’ and urged the government to enforce stricter rules to bring it down.

Analysis by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) showed that the air quality in inner city London is four times as bad as some Scottish islands, Metro reports.

The worst place was deemed to be Newham in east London, where residents are breathing in toxins equivalent to smoking 159 cigarettes a year.

The cleanest is the Outer Hebrides where locals breathe in the equivalent of 40.

Particles of pollution can seep into the body and raise the risk of strokes and heart attacks.

BHF say pollution is behind 11,000 fatal heart disease deaths and strokes each year in the UK.