Letters From A Tory Daily views on British politics and the Conservative Party from a centre-right thinker who writes letters on his blog to politicians, journalists and many others.

Dear Geoff Hoon,

Poor man.  This third runway at Heathrow was always going to be a delicate matter, but yesterday you got a taste for the ferocity of opposition to the project in the House of Commons.  Interestingly, the Conservative Party are probably the least of your worries on this matter.  The fact that 140 MPs have signed a Commons motion urging the government to consider the alternatives to a new runway is not really the issue.  The real problem is that 50 of those MPs are from your own party and are wetting themselves at the prospect of losing their seats at the next election.

The Conservatives were keen to remind you yesterday that the ‘consultation’ on the third runway at Heathrow has been a complete joke.  If the government had listened to the public at any stage of the proposals, it would have been crushed like a bug.  Theresa Villiers, Shadow Transport Secretary, quite rightly pointed out that the government had already made up its mind long before the consultation process began.  Naturally, BAA (who own Heathrow), British Airways, Richard Branson and many other business interest groups claim that a third runway is vital if the airport is to remain competitive in the long run and their lobbying power has been sufficient for the government to ignore all the environmental concerns.  The fact that another runway will result in an entire village being flattened and thousands of residents being forced out of their homes has obviously slipped your mind.

The environmental concerns could still prove fatal to the government’s plans.  Gordon Brown has said a final decision, due next month, would be taken on the third runway after “full consideration” of the environmental implications highlighted in the recent consultation.  You added that the whole project would only be approved if strict guarantees on air quality and noise levels could be satisfied.  This is where things start to get interesting.  I remember seeing a TV documentary on the subject (I think it was Dispatches) a few months back, where they pointed out that in order to test whether EU air quality and noise level regulations would be met by a third runway, the government used a range of projections based on an increase in the number of aircraft.  This is, of course, perfectly sensible – well, it would have been sensible, but in making these projections on noise and emissions the government based all calculations on a type of aircraft that doesn’t actually exist at the moment.  In short, they based their noise and emissions modelling on an aircraft that might be built in the future which funnily enough emits less noise and pollution than the current fleet.  Labour MP Martin Salter said the government would have to opt out of its EU obligations on air quality if the runway was built, and boy would things get really serious if that happened.  So much for combatting climate change!

Needless to say, you and Gordon are trying to instill fear of what would happen to this country if Heathrow wasn’t expanded.  Flights and jobs will be lost to foreign airpots, London would collapse overnight and we all die horribly.  Gordo went to accuse the Conservatives of taking “easy, populist decisions” and challenged those who wanted to “sit on their hands” to explain what the alternatives to more airport capacity were.  How about this – look at Gatwick and Stansted instead, look at the Thames Estuary like Boris, look at why 70% of all flight connections in Britain are made at Heathrow, look at high-speed rail lines etc.  It’s quite obvious that you’re not even bothering to look at alternatives, even though many exist already.  I’m not saying they are perfect by any means, but you and the rest of the government stuck your head in the sand a long time ago and blew a great chance to look at transport policy across the whole UK.  To stand there in the Commons and merely acknowledge that the third runway issue “aroused strong feelings” is insulting.  It’s not often I find myself agreeing with John McDonnell MP.  However, he has said on the record that “there has been a litany of lies and deceit over the development of the airport” and quite frankly I can see why.  I look forward to the impending rebellion of Labour MPs.