This week, the Chancellor announced her full-throated endorsement of Heathrow’s plans to add a third runway.
We have been here before; I was involved in the long-running campaign to halt the airport’s expansion which was vindicated by the Court of Appeal’s ruling in 2020 that expansion was unviable. This decision was welcome across the board and was supported by Sir Keir Starmer when he was leader of the opposition. With expansion seemingly put on hold indefinitely, it was disappointing to learn that the Chancellor was seeking to reopen the divisions caused during the campaign against expansion.
In an Urgent Question – tabled by the Conservative Opposition – I pressed the Minister for Aviation about the Government’s proposals. I highlighted the Chancellor’s hypocrisy by opposing the expansion of Leeds Bradford airport in her constituency, as well as the damages that Heathrow expansion will have on my constituents.