Conservative Party nationally opposes Heathrow Expansion
The Conservtaive Party locally in Hounslow and other west London boroughs have long opposed the expansion of Heathrow. Councillor Barbara Reid and Parliamentary Candidate Mary Macleod have been particularly active in this respect locally.However, the Conservative Party yesterday announced that it opposed to the further expansion of Heathrow Airport as a party of national party policy. Shadow Transport Secretary, Theresa Villiers MP, said the case for a third runway had not been made. According to the Evening Standard:"She said the Government should look at alternatives such as greater use of high-speed rail links before sanctioning further growth at the airport. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly is due to announce soon whether she will give the green light to a third runway, sixth terminal and a massive increase in the number of flights at Heathrow. "The shift in policy is likely to be welcomed by green campaigners." said the Evening Standard. Theresa Villiers MP said: "The Government is set on building a third runway regardless of whether key economic and environmental questions are answered. However, they have failed to make the case." Like many others, Theresa Villiers MP also questioned the thoroughness of the Labour Government's consultation document outlining the proposed expansion. "On page 55 of one of the annexes to the consultation document, we find them casually admitting that they have failed to price in the carbon effects of surface access to the airport... "And they have included, as an economic benefit, the forecast increase in Air Passenger Duty - despite the fact that much of this will be a transfer from UK citizens to the exchequer, and hence not a benefit for the economy as a whole." "She said the Government should look at a northsouth-high speed rail line linked to Heathrow and the Channel Tunnel as an alternative to expansion. "We could dispense with the need for hundreds of the flights now clogging up the airport," she said. She added: "The Government... has given us a consultation document which fails to make the economic case, fails to make the environmental case, and fails to consider the alternatives." It is now clear that it essential to vote for Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, Tony Arbour as our London Assembly Member and Mary Mcleod as our MP in order to ensure that we elect people and a party who are solidly exposed to Heathrow Expansion. Others such as Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone and Labour MP Ann Keen may say that they are opposed to Heathrow Expansion but they are supporters, and in Ann Keen's case a junior member,of the very same Labour Government that is enthusiastically supporting this expansion.Labour Party members like Ann Keen and Ken Livingstone simply cannot be trusted to put loyalty to their constiuents above loyalty to their party as has been shown in the case of Ann Keen MP's recent vote for post office closures.
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