Being a politician sometimes involves taking big decisions, many of which will be unpopular. David Cameron is soon going to have to decide which of the menu of policies provided by his various policy commissions he will adopt and include in his manifesto. Over the last year, former Environment Secretary John Gummer has been working on a report for the oddly named Quality of Life Commission and this week part of his report was judiciously leaked prior to its publication later this month.
Gummer is proposing that there should be a moratorium on ALL airport expansion in the south east. While that may please a few sandal wearing environmentalists it would be a catastrophe for the economy, not just of the south east but the whole country. No one is suggesting that Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick should expand infinitum, but to say they won’t be able to expand at all is not only economically illiterate but profoundly unconservative. Business and passengers would disappear to our rivals at Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt who would delight in our stupidity. The challenge for David Cameron and other political leaders is to find a way through this. Just because you add a few pounds onto the cost of a flight will not prevent most people from flying.
The courageous thing to do would be to look at sites for a brand new airport, away from the population and on a site which would cause least environmental damage. The most attractive is to build a new airport in the middle of the Thames Estuary. This proposal has been doing the rounds for at least fifteen years but has never really got off the ground.
The problem is that most of the major airlines actually want to fly into Heathrow or Gatwick. They are just not interested in going to any of the major regional airports. Even Stansted is still not popular with them. Heathrow certainly has its troubles at the moment, both in terms of capacity and passenger serviceability. But the airlines still want to go there. They know that any new site would be further from London.
Of course we could just bite the bullet and price air travel out of the country. This would be very regressive and hit poorer people most. It is they who have benefited most from cheap air travel and it is they who would suffer through any major imposition of green taxes. But be sure, these taxes are coming. It doesn’t matter who you vote for at the next election, air travel will increase in cost. At least the Conservatives promise that any hike in green taxes will be offset by tax cuts for families. I’m still not sure why I, as a non married, non parent, shouldn’t benefit too, though. Maybe someone will tell me one day.
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Have you seen that new Waitrose advert? The one that has ‘Love me Tender’ as the theme and ends with the caption "Supporting British Farmers", as Elvis sings "And I always will". I'm surprised it made it through the Advertising Standards Authority checks for accuracy. For one moment I thought it said 'extorting British farmers'. For most supermarkets that would be a far more accurate slogan, although I am told Waitrose is better than most. It’s just a shame that they don’t seem to be able to provide any evidence of their “support” for British farmers on their website.
I am a great believer in the power of the free market but the truth of the matter is that the big supermarkets are abusing their dominant position in negotiations with their suppliers. Ask any farmer you meet and you’ll hear the same story. It might be whispered to you as they might be fearful of the consequences. The Competition Commission is conducting an inquiry into this area at the moment and I hope it is a rigorous one. It’s time British farmers got a fair deal from supermarkets.
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I recently took my mother to Zurich for the weekend – ever the dutiful son. To be honest, part of me was rather dreading it, not because I don’t get on with my mother, but because after four hip operations she is unable to walk more than a few steps, and even then she needs crutches. She hates being in a wheelchair and I wasn’t looking forward to the experience of getting her through an airport and onto a plane. But I’m delighted to say, I needn’t have worried. Both London City Airport and Zurich could not have been more helpful. Indeed, the experience has made me think that it’s a positive advantage to have a traveling companion in a wheelchair as you both get treated as VIPs. It was a fabulous weekend, and enabled my mother to discover she could actually do what most able bodied people can. I even got her into a cable car to go up a mountainside. I’ll remember the look on her face as we discovered we were on the world’s first ever 360 degree rotating cable car gondola. It’s a weekend I shall treasure.
