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Civil Aviation Bill

I begin by thanking the Secretary of State for contacting me to explain his absence from today’s debate. It was perhaps uncharitable—although only slightly—of the official Opposition spokesman to describe the Bill as an aviation paella: as a trail mix of aviation measures, to be washed down with a night cap of a pint of Special Brew. What is clear is that, as the hon. Member for Crawley (Laura Moffatt) said, aviation Bills do not land very often. So when one does, Members need to take the opportunity to examine it closely, to see whether it delivers on certain key principles. The Government have stated two such key principles: that ““predict and provide”” in aviation is dead, and that the polluter will pay. I am afraid to say that the Bill fails the first principle and that it partly fails the second, in that it in fact says that the polluter ““might”” pay.