Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Grayling and Iain Duncan Smith

Thursday 1st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

In the early 2020s, which is years ahead of what would otherwise have been the case under the original scheme.

[Mr Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green) (Con)]

Within the context of equity of spending, I wonder whether, after this snow event is over, my right hon. Friend will ask some serious questions about, or even have a review of, why we still seem to be in no way prepared for such events. For example, I discovered yesterday that Heathrow is busy offloading flights because it cannot cope, whereas—[Interruption.]

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Yes, regional flights. What I am saying is that, given all of that, airports such as Gatwick and others are able to cope. Does my right hon. Friend not think that it is ridiculous that some airports are simply unable to cope while others across the UK can?

[Chris Grayling]

I know that a number of Members are here today because their flights to regional airports have not been able to take off. I hope and expect that we will be able to sort that out as quickly as possible today, although it is really important that the transport system is run safely. Of course, one of the benefits of the expansion of Heathrow is that the airport would become more resilient to such difficult situations, and connections to regional airports would be more reliable.