---

Civil Aviation Bill

This is the Civil Aviation Bill, and I think, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that you would prefer me to confine my comments to aviation matters. Thirdly, we are utterly opposed to the cross-subsidy of airport development costs from one airport to another. The Bill does offer no coherent shape to those objectives; nor does it offer any similar or comparable approach. Its structure is muddled. Indeed, it is even self-contradictory. Its contents are completely piecemeal. To be fair to the Secretary of State, he is the victim of previous Conservative Governments’ successes. In the late 1980s, the predominant concern in aviation was to turn organisations that had hitherto been shackled by government into profitable enterprises that added to the nation’s wealth. We have seen a dramatic increase in air travel, combined with the emergence of new airlines with almost bafflingly low prices for many tickets, internet purchasing and intense competition. Our airports have attracted massive investment. For people on every level of income and of every background, the opportunities to travel are far beyond the dreams of earlier generations. People can book themselves flights on the internet over lunch and jet off on the weekend, and the cost of doing so lies within most people’s reach. The openings for business have been equally monumental, and more than half the passengers on the new low-cost carriers are business men and women. Passenger numbers have increased dramatically, up from 51 million in 1982 to 189 million in 2002, rising by 7 million in 2001–02 alone. BAA has invested more than £6 billion since it was privatised in 1987, and passenger numbers at its seven airports have risen from 55 million then to 127 million in 2002. My sympathy for the Secretary of State and the Government begins to wane because the Government are prisoners of their own policies. In 2004, the Sustainable Development Commission published a report highlighting the contradictions between the Government’s White Paper on aviation and their stated desire to deal with climate change. The Environmental Audit Committee described Ministers as being ““superficial and vague”” about the environmental damage done by Government policy. The Bill does not even begin to answer any of that. Admittedly, other new problems have emerged, such as health concerns including deep vein thrombosis. Air traffic control has become ever more challenging as controllers have to handle growing congestion in our skies. The issue of security requires us to keep that essential step ahead of any evildoer who would threaten our safety. It is now blindingly clear that the greatest challenge is the threat to the environment caused by our unquenchable thirst for travel.