Labour denies Heathrow third runway U-turn – but there has been a shift away from opposition

Labour has played down reports that Ed Miliband is set to abandon his opposition to a 3rd Heathrow runway. But he is under pressure from the shadow chancellor Ed Balls to be more supportive when the Airports Commission reports next week  (though the report has been leaked already). A parliamentary row has been brewing over claims that No 10 has pressured the Commission into keeping a broader shortlist to avoid an early row focused on Heathrow  – though Heathrow appears to be the main focus.  Ed Balls in a recent speech to the CBI said he would like to see the Airports Commission make recommendations before the general election. The party’s previous shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, was shifted in the recent shadow cabinet reshuffle partly due to disagreements with Balls over HS2 and Heathrow. Eagle’s replacement as shadow transport secretary, Mary Creagh, has tried to be non-committal towards the Airports Commission, saying: “No party can say now that it will implement its recommendations when we simply don’t know what the costs of any proposals will be. Obviously the Conservatives and Lib Dems haven’t made any such commitments.” She said Labour would not rule any runway options in or out while the Commission was still deliberating.
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Labour denies Heathrow third runway U-turn – but there has been a shift

Having threatened to resign from the last Labour government over the project, Miliband is now merely “sceptical”.

BY GEORGE EATON  (New Statesman)

12.12.2013

Labour is denying that there has been any change in its stance on a third runway at Heathrow after the FT reported that Ed Miliband had “abandoned his implacable opposition”. A party source told The Staggers: 

FT suggestion Labour changing position on Heathrow is wrong. Position unchanged. Ed sceptical. We await Davies [Airports Commission].
 

But while the party is some way from endorsing the project, which will be one of those shortlisted by the Airports Commission (chaired by Howard Davies) in its interim report next week, a shift has unmistakably taken place.

When Miliband won the Labour leadership in 2010, having threatened to resign as Energy Secretary over the issue during the last government, he made it official party policy to oppose a third runway. As then shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said in 2011: “The answer for the south-east is not going to be to fall back on the proposed third runway at Heathrow. The local environmental impact means that this is off the agenda.” Yet now Miliband is merely said to be “sceptical”. In the recent reshuffle, Eagle, a strong opponent of a third runway and a strong supporter of HS2, was replaced with Mary Creagh, who has adopted a neutral stance on the Davies Commission. She said recently: “No party can say now that it will implement its recommendations when we simply don’t know what the costs of any proposals will be. Obviously the Conservatives and Lib Dems haven’t made any such commitments.”

This shift is, among other things, a victory for Ed Balls. We know that the shadow chancellor favours a third runway because he’s told us. As I notedearlier this year, asked in the “quick fire” section of a Timesinterview whether he favoured a “third runway or HS2”, he replied: “third runway”. That Miliband is now willing to consider a third runway shows how the gap between them has narrowed since they were in government together.

As Damian McBride recalled in his memoir: “The first time I ever heard Balls say anything remotely negative about Miliband was at the end of 2008, when the latter effectively threatened to resign from the Cabinet if a decision was made to build a third runway at Heathrow.

“Balls was genuinely outraged that Miliband could ignore the need to expand airport capacity just for the sake of his reputation with the green lobby and his own political positioning.”

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/12/labour-denies-heathrow-third-runway-u-turn-there-has-been-shift

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Financial Times article 

11.12.2013

Heathrow boosted as Ed Miliband drops opposition to new runway

By Jim Pickard, George Parker and Andrew Parker

Labour leader Ed Miliband has abandoned his implacable opposition to building a third runway at Heathrow as the political balance shifts further towards the contentious west London project. ….. and he is now backing a general increase in runway capacity and has taken a neutral position between rival airport locations in the southeast. “Things have changed,” according to a Labour aide.

FT story at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/318967b2-6289-11e3-99d1-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz2nEcSVNkB

 

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Labour dismisses claim of Heathrow third-runway U-turn

Interim report from airports commission set to announce a shortlist of options for expansion in the south-east

A plane takes off at Heathrow in the fog

A plane takes off in thick fog at Heathrow, where the prospect of political assent for a third or fourth runway seems to be increasing. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Labour played down reports last night that Ed Miliband is set to abandon his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow, but he is under pressure from the shadow chancellor Ed Balls to be more supportive when the airports commission reports next week.

The prospect of political assent for a third or fourth runway at Heathrow however appeared to increase further, ahead of an interim report from commission chair Howard Davies which is set to announce a shortlist of options for expansion in the south-east.

Davies has promised to narrow the list of candidates for potential expansion, and according to one source an early draft had Heathrow at the centre of the commission’s thinking, with options for a third or fourth runway at the west London hub, and potentially additional capacity at Gatwick.

A parliamentary row has been brewing over claims that No 10 has pressured the commission into keeping a broader shortlist to avoid an early row focused on Heathrow. The commission was established to examine the vociferous claims of business and the aviation industry that extra airport capacity in the UK, and specifically London, was needed – but to report only after the 2015 general election.

A number of MPs in west London, led by Conservative Zac Goldsmith, believe the government is deliberately concealing its intentions.

Balls in a recent speech to the CBI said he would like to see the Davies Commission make recommendations before the general election.

The party’s previous shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, was shifted in the recent shadow cabinet reshuffle partly due to disagreements with Balls over HS2 and Heathrow.

Eagle’s replacement as shadow transport secretary, Mary Creagh, has tried to be non-committal towards Davies, saying: “No party can say now that it will implement its recommendations when we simply don’t know what the costs of any proposals will be. Obviously the Conservatives and Lib Dems haven’t made any such commitments.”

Labour would not rule any runway options in or out while the Davies commission was still deliberating, she added.

While Miliband was a minister in the last Labour government that approved plans for a third runway, his concerns were well established. At one point he threatened to resign as energy secretary if Heathrow was granted a third runway, citing the effect on carbon emissions, and as leader he ruled out the party standing by its former policy after the coalition scrapped the runway in 2010.

Labour declined to comment on the report of a new Labour willingness to accept extra airport capacity in the south-east.

Davies will announce the shortlist on 17 December.

The four-runway hub airport proposal to the east of London championed by mayor Boris Johnson – either in the Thames Estuary airport or at a revamped Stansted – was regarded as an expensive and unlikely choice, even before claims surfaced that it would be omitted from the shortlist. On Wednesday, the mayor vowed to keep fighting for his alternative, saying: “I have participated in this process in good faith, despite increasing concerns about its methodology. If only three options are left on the table, all beginning with the word Heathrow, that would be scandalous.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/12/labour-dismisses-third-runway-uturn

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Earlier:

Labour leader Ed Miliband warns airports chief over extra Heathrow runways

Warning: Labour is sceptical that a third runway, and possibly a fourth, can be built at Heathrow without causing misery for hundreds of thousands of Londoners
By NICHOLAS CECIL  (Standard)
23 September 2013

Ed Miliband has warned the Government-appointed airports chief of Labour’s deep concerns over plans for a third runway at Heathrow, The Standard reveals today.

The Labour leader held talks with Sir Howard Davies, who chairs the Airports Commission, in which he is understood to have reiterated his party’s stance on proposals for airport expansion in the South East.

Labour is sceptical that a third runway, and possibly a fourth, can be built at Heathrow without causing more noise and pollution misery for hundreds of thousands of Londoners. It also insists that any airport expansion will have to meet the target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

Labour is not ruling out supporting a bigger Heathrow but it is likely to demand convincing evidence that extra noise and pollution can be sufficiently mitigated.

At a fringe meeting yesterday, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: “There are really legitimate concerns about the impact of a third runway at Heathrow on local communities in terms of noise and air quality.

“However, we will have to await the Airports Commission report to see what Sir Howard Davies recommends and it’s important not to prejudge his work.”

Aviation sources said Sir Howard, former director of the London School of Economics, was concerned that Ms Eagle was moving towards favouring a second runway at Gatwick.

The Airports Commission is due to deliver an interim report this year before publishing its final conclusion after the 2015 general election.

But Labour could be tempted to reject Heathrow expansion before the election to boost its chances of winning several key marginal seats, including Battersea, Brentford and Isleworth  and Ealing Central and Acton.

Labour has also criticised the delay in publishing the final Airports Commission report and two former trade ministers, Lord Digby Jones and Lord Mervyn Davies, have written to Sir Howard to raise this issue with him.

They wrote: “We are increasingly concerned about the gradual decline in Britain’s global aviation capacity when compared with our European competitors and the negative impact this is already having on our economic competitiveness.

“While the UK has continued to do nothing, many of our developed economy global competitors such as Germany have already modernised their airport infrastructure.”

Heathrow bosses have published proposals for a third runway, and even a fourth. They say the impact will be cut by locating runways to the west of the airport and using quieter aircraft— a claim disputed by anti-expansion campaigners.

Gatwick’s owners today said they could lure one of the global airline alliances if they win permission to build a second runway.

Stewart Wingate, chief executive at the Sussex airport, said he was targeting either SkyTeam or Star Alliance but conceded that OneWorld, led by British Airways, would never leave its Heathrow base.

Although the alliances have said they want to remain at Heathrow, Mr Wingate said: “If an alliance were to move down at some future point into Gatwick not only would there be room for that alliance to grow, but that would create more space at Heathrow for the other remaining alliances to grow too.”

Gatwick wants to build a new runway to enable the airport to deal with 87 million passengers each year by 2050 compared to 34 million now.

Stansted’s owners today launched a campaign for an ungraded rail link to London as they seek to attract long-haul flights to the Essex airport

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leader-ed-miliband-warns-airports-chief-over-extra-heathrow-runways-8834677.html

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Labour drops backing for Heathrow third runway

Heathrow’s lingering hopes of building a third runway have been dashed after the Labour withdrew its support for the project.

By , Transport Editor (Telegraph)

31 Oct 2011

 

Maria Eagle, the party’s transport spokesman, reversed Labour’s policy on Heathrow’s expansion in a speech to the Airport Operators Association.

In Government, support for a third runway was one of Labour’s flagship policies, despite the opposition of senior figures in the party including Ed Miliband, then Energy and Climate Secretary.

Plans for Heathrow’s third runway were scrapped by the Coalition within days of taking office and Ms Eagle said that Labour would not resurrect the proposals if it won the next election.

The party’s volte face was condemned by Mike Carrivick, chief executive of the Board of Airline Representatives in the UK, representing 86 carriers.

“The decision of the Labour Party to withdraw support for a third runway at Heathrow is not just a massive policy u-turn but strongly suggests that politics are now deliberately obstructive to supporting UK business and driving economic growth,” he said.

“All three main political parties are guilty of being indecisive and now have a duty to rapidly formulate an alternative and progressive aviation policy.”

In another policy shift, Ms Eagle also ripped up the high speed rail route drawn up by the previous Government and largely adopted by the Coalition.

She called for the route to be redrawn in a move seen as capitalising on Tory opposition to proposals to run the line through the Chilterns.

Ms Eagle said the line should be run via Heathrow Airport – an idea which was explicitly ruled out as too expensive by Lord Adonis, the last Labour Transport Secretary.

“Taking the line via our major hub airport would remove the need to build an expensive spur later while opening up the prospect of private sector funding, potentially saving the taxpayer billions.

“It would lead to a new route that makes better use of existing transport corridors and avoids an area of outstanding natural beauty where residents were wrongly insulted as ‘NIMBYs’ by Tory Ministers.”

Her stance was condemned by Theresa Villiers, a transport minister.

“Labour have had nine months to say something constructive on HS2 but instead have waited till the consultation has ended to oppose the government’s preferred route – which they originally came up with.

“This opportunistic and last-minute announcement by Labour will do nothing to contribute to the detailed, informed and extensive process that the Government is undertaking on HS2. Labour are playing politics with HS2 and the people who strongly support the project around the country will not thank them for this irresponsible attitude.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/8860268/Labour-drops-backing-for-Heathrow-third-runway.html

 

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