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Heathrow

Absolutely. Heathrow is, of course, a curse and, in some ways, a blessing for those who live around it. Those who have lived around it—I declare an interest, because I have, to a greater or lesser extent, for 40 years, so I know about it—have come over the years to a sort of melioration, a sort of understanding, with the airport. It is based on certain concessions that have been made over the years. The Cranford agreement is one of them, but immensely important as well is the alternation of the runways. A failure to alternate runways will simply be the breaking of a bargain that has existed with Heathrow’s neighbours for half a century, and it will change beyond repair the lives, and the dimension of the lives, of children and other people living in that area. The Government need to get on board, because raw anger will manifest not among a few privileged people but among 2 million people in London who will be exposed to that blight. The second premise that I wish to place before the House is a very simple one. In this day and age of climate change and the desperate fight to preserve our environment, it is a very simple premise: the days have long gone when we can destroy and despoil our environment to create a non-essential improvement in human lifestyle. Of course, there can be essential improvements in lifestyle; as we all know, they exist in the third world. In such circumstances, some compromise with the environment may be necessary, but not here—not to enhance the lifestyles of people, frequently mentioned by the Secretary of State, who travel to visit their relatives. That is not a reason for the kind of damage being contemplated. As has been said, the Government are now in an extraordinary position. Two weeks ago, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change came to the House and, amid justified adulation and approval, gave the best and most outstanding undertakings on the environment in the world. Two weeks later, his Cabinet colleague, the Secretary of State for Transport, has come to the House and wrecked them. We are told that there is division in the Cabinet—such information must be highly unreliable of course, because, as we know, the Cabinet is a leak-proof zone. However, we are told that there are deep Cabinet divisions on this issue. That is hardly surprising: when one Secretary of State wrecks another’s policy, there will be such division from time to time. Let us hope that it is resolved sensibly and properly. The third premise is the myth of demand and the idea that it should be assuaged in these circumstances. That demand is not atavistic or fundamental—it does not relate to food, drink or even the desire to procreate. It is based on the preference of people who wish to fly. That is all. Manifestly, that demand can be managed and controlled. It is, to use a word employed by George Soros in relation to the economy, a ““reflexive”” demand—that is, it increases according to the capacity used to feed it, and it will recede as that capacity goes away. Such demand must be addressed, but it must also be sensibly managed. One citizen must understand that their right to fly is not immutable, and cannot be predicated on the destruction of other people’s lifestyles. Finally, I turn to Cliffe airport, which was to have been in my constituency. It was one of the potential airports in the White Paper and the consultation. Let me say this: Cliffe was never a sensible option, and it was never thought to be. I shall say how I know that. We all thought it all the time, but immediately after the consultation the former Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, came to my constituency and helpfully said so. It was never a sensible or real option. It began to look like a real option only for a moment on one occasion. That was when I was talking to the former Prime Minister about the subject at the beginning of the consultation, and told him that even putting Cliffe in as a proposal would make it likely that we would lose my parliamentary seat. For a moment, I saw a thought flash across his mind as he contemplated virtues that he had not previously seen. There will be a vote on this issue; the Government will not avoid that. This place is not so enfeebled or lacking in creativity that we cannot find the means to have a vote, and we will have it. I say to the Secretary of State that when that vote comes, the Government will lose it—and with it, their new-found and deserved reputation for environmental custody. That will be terrible, not only because of the loss of that reputation, but in electoral terms. I hope that the Secretary of State and the Government will take that on board.