Airports (Amendment) Bill [HL]

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Friday 16th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, if one purpose of this debate is to call out the Government on aviation policy, the kind of question that the noble Lord, Lord Spicer, has just asked certainly does that, as indeed do the speech and the Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Empey. In his excellent speech, he made a powerful case for the obvious significance of adequate transport links for regional policy. Crucially, for Northern Ireland that is bound to mean air travel. He was supported in the debate by colleagues from Northern Ireland, who indicated how crucial these air links are and the potential danger. Despite the assurances given by Willie Walsh and IAG that slots will be preserved to serve Belfast if the merger goes through, there is obvious anxiety that these assurances might not stand the test of time.

The debate is not just about Northern Ireland. As the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, indicated, Scotland has more than a passing interest in this issue, too. In many respects, Edinburgh stands to lose at least as much as Belfast. This is in circumstances in which we are all concerned about the unity of the United Kingdom—as the Prime Minister assures us that he is—and any potential threat to transport links with Scotland ought to be regarded as a very unfortunate development. Therefore, in this debate the Minister has to reply to the question about the significance of aviation policy for the regions. I might add that only brief passing reference was made to the south-west, but many who travel from there feel that they are almost as remote and limited by their links as other areas of the United Kingdom are.

We must all recognise that regional policy and development ought to be of surpassing concern to the Government. They know that our regions are ill favoured compared to the south-east. They know, when they look at the indices of growing unemployment at present and the inevitable development of poverty as a result of government measures, that a great deal of it is concentrated in certain regions. It is important that we address ourselves to the infrastructure that gives the regions a chance.

Underlying it all is the bigger aviation issue: London Heathrow is full to capacity. The noble Lord, Lord Addington, did not make a very significant point when he talked about consultation. This is not about increasing the number of flights; it is about protecting the services that we already have. That is the anxiety that underpins this measure and what the Bill seeks to address.

The worry is that, as the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, indicated in his contribution, aviation ought to be and is subject to commercial considerations. We all recognise that, but the problem is that the slots that IAG commands will be redirected on commercial grounds. I indicate to the House that IAG could merge with the airline with the second greatest number of slots after its own at the hub airport of Heathrow. International travel is more remunerative for the airlines than regional travel. Therefore, the danger is that IAG will use the slots for long-distance travel, particularly since Heathrow is struggling at the moment because the restrictions on international competition are quite great, as my noble friends Lord Soley and Lord Clinton-Davis indicated. We are already seeing airports such as Schiphol and Charles de Gaulle open up routes to Chinese cities, which Heathrow just cannot match because of its limited capacity.

That is why, when the Minister replies to this debate, he should not just respond to the Bill, although I recognise that he will address himself to its detail. The Bill raises the issue of aviation policy and the particular question of what capacity there is in south-east England, other than Heathrow, to meet the obvious demand that is presented by the regions of the United Kingdom, as exemplified by the Bill. However, it also raises wider considerations.

My party has looked carefully at the Bill. We recognise the strength of the case made by the noble Lord, Lord Empey, and are aware of its significance for the regions of the UK. However, we are not persuaded that the Bill can solve the problem that it addresses. The noble Lord has certainly cast light on an important dimension of aviation policy. However, we fear that an attempt to give the Secretary of State powers to direct airline slots will run foul of competition policy. That is why we state our position much more strongly on the response of the European authorities to this problem.

My honourable friends in the other place, the shadow Secretaries of State for Transport, Northern Ireland and Scotland, have written to the European Commission indicating that this is an issue of cardinal significance to Britain and that we are in the unique position of having a single hub airport, which is clearly what Heathrow functions as, and the regions, particularly Northern Ireland, are greatly dependent on this hub. We therefore seek a response from Europe that indicates that the bid by IAG, framed in its present terms, would create a predominance of slots at Heathrow that would be a threat to the health of the British economy in its regional development.

I have the greatest respect for the case put by the noble Lord, Lord Empey. He presented to the House, with the greatest clarity, a problem that certainly needs to be addressed. It is not being addressed at present by the Government, who continue to indicate that we all need to wait on the evolution of policy. But time marches on. The bid is before the European authorities now, yet the Government remain bereft of any policy except one—the supremely negative policy of saying that there will be no third runway or additional capacity at Heathrow. That will not do, and I hope that the Minister in his response will also open up government responses to the more fundamental issues of aviation policy in this country.