---

Civil Aviation Bill

I have been following my hon. Friend’s argument closely and I agree that it is better for decisions to be made locally. Is not there a serious flaw in the case being put by Opposition Members? Even if landing charges were doubled or trebled, they would still be only a relatively trivial part of an airline’s costs. It is most unlikely that such charges would change behaviour so is it not better to follow the direction proposed by the Government and look for international co-operation rather than trying to force charging regimes from the centre that could be inappropriate?