Speeches by Kane.

“I want to add to the last piece. While airspace modernisation will give us the biggest bang for our buck in the south-east, that does not stop us progressing Scottish airspace modernisation, the Manchester airspace and the south-west airspace. We have already just made some changes to the Manchester airspace. In terms …”

“That is what I was saying slightly earlier. Once we receive the proposal from Heathrow, which we expect to do this summer, that is when we will begin that work. It is already existing Government policy from 2018, two Governments ago, but we want to see that baked in for the future.”

“I don’t think I have the information to hand to answer that question. If we have the Heathrow proposal for this summer and then we review the airport national policy statement, the scope of that will be defined by the Secretary of State. Everybody says, “Spades in the ground.” We expect to see spades in the ground very…”

“From the last time the airports national policy statement was done, most of these things rarely take less than a year, but the scope will be defined by the Secretary of State, so we have to wait for that decision, and then we have to see the DCO decision come. That is another year’s process.”

“I am happy to defer.”

“Or even Edinburgh. We could segue into Avanti’s performance for the past few years. It was interesting for me, Chair, as a young Manchester councillor and a campaigner, that we are the only city that has built an international runway in the past 80 years, despite what others may say, which means capacity of 55 million,…”

“The economic benefit is that we have capacity within the UK such that people can get to anywhere in the world, and we are one of the most connected countries on the planet because of our superb aviation system, as I said at the top. Most of that is because Heathrow has that number of destinations. With all the will in …”

“Ground transport, of course, yes. If we could improve that as well, I know that Edinburgh airport, Manchester airport and other regional airports could penetrate further point-to-point markets, but for now if we want to stay competitive in an international system we have to invest in our hub airport as well.”

“I don’t think there is very little we can do. There is lots we can do, and this Government are doing it. If I talk again about my own conurbation, getting the buses to run on time, bringing in the local franchises, and enabling people to get to the airport within an hour on public transport make a material difference t…”

“Landing charges at Heathrow will be a matter between airlines, Heathrow and the Civil Aviation Authority, which is obviously an arm’s length authority from our Department. They will adjudicate that. In terms of the ANPS, as I said, the one in 2018 was very keen that there would be protection for regional slots into Hea…”

“A significant expansion.”

“Indeed. It depends what scheme comes forward. That is key to it.”

“In terms of the southern rail link and the western rail link, we would expect that any promoter bringing that forward will have to take that into consideration. That was in our last ANPS; it will be in the next ANPS. We expect that the promotor would fund it if that is what the scheme requires. We do not know that. I h…”

“Some of the evidence that you have probably received is that this could create 100,000 jobs and improve GDP by 0.3%, and some analysis shows that 60% of the benefits from expanding Heathrow would be outside the south-east. As part of how we improve transport links nationally, this Government are moving at pace in terms…”

“Regional capacity of airports?”

“Yes. That is a really legitimate question. I will pivot back to me being involved in opening the second runway at Manchester in 2001. The design concept was around about ’96. It took four to five years to get that from design and concept to up and running. We have seen 2 million square feet of high advanced manufacturi…”

“If wishing made it so, but this is an industry that exists mainly in the private sector. Most people actually want to hub in and out of Heathrow. There is no doubt about that. Most of our air freight comes in through Heathrow as well. Other places do really well—Scotland, East Midlands and places like that. The capacit…”

“I have read the Frontier Economics report. That is a report sponsored by Heathrow. It clearly said, as I mentioned, a 0.43% rise in GDP, which will be good for the country, and 60% of that benefit would be outside the south-east. I want to speak about the statistics that I gave you earlier from the Office for National …”

“I say again what I said earlier: capacity in London is at 76% on average, and at 95% at Gatwick and Heathrow. What is the Liberal Democrat answer to that? Do we not want people to fly across the world to bang the drum for British business? Do we not want them to visit their friends and family? Are the Liberal Democrats…”

“I cannot agree more. The Government’s defined mission will be growth. The aviation sector is one where we can grow the economy, because it provides the connectivity and the high-skilled, trade unionised jobs that support families and careers right across our country.”