Airports National Policy Statement

Wera Hobhouse Excerpts

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

Absolutely. It is important that Heathrow is planning to source services, products and manufacturing from all around the UK. As the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) said earlier, we want this project to create not just connections for the whole UK but opportunities for businesses around the country.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Why is the Secretary of State so much in support of the unpopular expansion of Heathrow airports when airports such as Bristol are looking to expand, which would make much more environmental and economic sense to my constituents in Bath and to people across the south-west? As the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) pointed out, regional airports are international airports in their own right, so why the obsession with London airports?

[Chris Grayling]

This is not about one thing or the other. Bristol airport has done a fantastic job of building up an international network, serving more than 100 destinations, and it is a great airport and a great success story. However, that does not remove the need for a hub airport to deliver strategic connections that only really operate from a single centre, with a market assembled from several destinations within the UK and, indeed, internationally to make such routes viable.