Will The Conservatives Hold Firm On Stansted?

10.36.11pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 8th Oct 2008

Liberal Democrats around Stansted have given a guarded welcome to David Cameron's statement of opposition to more runways at Stansted Airport.

Stansted Lib Dem councillor on Uttlesford, Alan Dean, said "At the Conservatives' conference last year David Cameron scrapped proposals from his Quality of Life group for a moratorium on expansion at Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Twelve months later he has had a welcome change of heart, but hasn't ruled out further expansion on the present runway."

Councillor Dean went on "At the Liberal Democrats' conference in Bournemouth two weeks earlier, we reiterated our long-standing opposition to airport expansion in the south-east of England. Nick Clegg said in his main speech: 'There must be no third runway at Heathrow, no expansion of Stansted'. Nobody with a shred of environmental credibility would say anything else."

"At a time of economic uncertainty, new jobs are needed; but not any job at any cost. On present forecasts, jobs from aviation could account for about 1.5% of all jobs in the region. We are supposed to be cutting the carbon we put into the atmosphere by 60%, yet CO2 emissions from Stansted Airport alone in 2030/31 would account for half of the region's total CO2 allowance and use up the entire CO2 emissions target by 2050.

"It is time that politicians from all parties worked together to develop an economy and grow jobs that make environmental sense; not ones that undermine the climate change efforts of everyone else."

According to a survey carried out by the polling organisation ComRes for the Local Government Association, 1 in 3 Conservative MPs are not convinced that climate change is happening and can be directly attributed to greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity.

Councillor Dean summed up: "The scepticism of Conservative MPs about climate change and Boris Johnson's recent daft proposal for a new airport in the Thames estuary suggest that the Conservatives' commitment to the environment may be no more than a passing fancy. I hope I am proved wrong."

Related Links:

Daily Mail article about the 2007 Conservative Party conference:

Nick Clegg's speech to the Liberal Democrats' party conference in September:

Survey of the views of Conservative MP's on climate change:

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