Heathrow: National Airports Review

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 22nd October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

We see the huge opportunities and benefits associated with expanding capacity at Heathrow and having a third runway there. There will be a thorough process, which we are starting today by reviewing the policy framework in which any planning application will be judged. The Planning Inspectorate will look at that and consider all the issues to do with economic need, air quality, noise and carbon, and then a decision will be taken. We have an ambition to see planes taking off from the runway in 2035, but that does not mean that we will not have a thorough process. We are committed to that, and that is what I am setting out today.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

It is abundantly clear that air travel is here to stay; in fact, the amount of it has risen over recent years. We of course need to take mitigation measures to tackle the noise and environmental impacts, but while we have for decades been debating ad nauseam building a third runway, dozens of runways and, indeed, airports have been built by nations across the globe. I ask my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary to safeguard the thousands of Slough households who are dependent on Heathrow to pay their bills; to boost business and trade; and to maintain our world-leading position in the aviation sector. Will she work at speed to tackle the blockages and finally help to deliver this third runway?

[Heidi Alexander]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have had decades of dither and delay on this issue, and it is right that we crack on and start the process of reviewing the airports national policy statement. He is also right to highlight the huge economic benefit of Heathrow—it is the largest single-site employer anywhere in the UK—and its effect on the livelihoods of and opportunities for his constituents. We will move at speed, but we will also do this properly.

Disruption at Heathrow

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Heidi Alexander

Monday 24th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

A “national embarrassment”, a “laughing stock globally”, “shocking”; with memes doing the rounds, those are just some of the words that could be used to describe this weekend’s events at Heathrow. While right hon. Members on our Defence Committee and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy were busy discussing hybrid and cyber-threats from our adversaries, our nation’s biggest port was taken down by a single substation fire. Does my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary agree that, while my Slough constituents and people across the country are not bothered with the blame game that is now under way, this event should be a wake-up call regarding the resilience of our national infrastructure, and there should be no repeat?

[Heidi Alexander]

This was an unprecedented event and Heathrow stood up its resilience plans swiftly. Within 18 hours of the fire starting, planes were once again landing at the airport. For an airport the size of Heathrow, that is no mean feat. It is right both that an internal review of the airport crisis management and resilience plans takes place, and that the Government have commissioned the review that will be conducted by NESO.