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Darling to coalition: stop dithering over new runway Darling to coalition: stop dithering over new runway
(about 9 hours later)
The coalition must move urgently to promote big-ticket infrastructure projects such as a new runway at Heathrow or Stansted airport if it is to prevent a lost decade of flat economic growth and rising debt, the former chancellor Alistair Darling has warned.The coalition must move urgently to promote big-ticket infrastructure projects such as a new runway at Heathrow or Stansted airport if it is to prevent a lost decade of flat economic growth and rising debt, the former chancellor Alistair Darling has warned.
Ministers' current plans to postpone a decision on overstretched airport capacity in the south-east until the Davies report is published in 2017 will only delay a decision without resolving any of the existing dilemmas – including the threat to key marginals around both airports, he said. It has taken seven years to build Terminal 5 inside Heathrow and Britain cannot wait, Darling said: "It is nonsense not to make up our minds." Ministers' current plans to postpone a decision on overstretched airport capacity in the south-east until the Sir Howard Davies report is published in 2017 will only delay a decision without resolving any of the existing dilemmas – including the threat to key marginals around both airports, he said.
He told journalists at Westminster that, as transport secretary 10 years ago he had published a white paper backing a second runway at Stansted, for which planning permission existed: "Labour tried to do something about it in far more benign circumstances when airlines were willing to spend money." The only serious alternative was not "Boris island" in the Thames estuary – costly and vulnerable to bird strikes – but an expansion at Heathrow, he said. It has taken seven years to build Terminal 5 inside Heathrow and Britain cannot wait, Darling said: "It is nonsense not to make up our minds."
After a 40-year dither by governments of both parties, the Labour government belatedly committed itself to a third Heathrow runway, then backed off as the Tories and Lib Dems moved against it on environmental grounds. That remains Labour's official position. He told journalists at Westminster that, as transport secretary 10 years ago he had published a white paper backing a second runway at Stansted, for which planning permission existed: "Labour tried to do something about it in far more benign circumstances when airlines were willing to spend money."
Darling said Ed Balls's campaign to persuade voters that the coalition's austerity policy – public spending cuts that reinforce the cutbacks in the private sector – could only reinforce the kind of lost decade suffered by Japan. He added that revived economic activity was also needed to generate renewed confidence and tax revenues, thus curbing the debt legacy of the banking crisis. But subsidising house purchases inside the M25 – as chancellor George Osborne's budget intends - would only add to the existing bubble because the real problem is a shortage of supply. The only serious alternative was not "Boris island" in the Thames estuary – costly and vulnerable to bird strikes – but an expansion at Heathrow, he said.
The ex-chancellor said his only priority now was to be "totally focused" as chairman of the Better Together campaign to keep Scotland in the union with England – reversing the assumption until quite recently that SNP-led independence was "inevitable". He ducked questions about his willingness to serve in an Ed Miliband government after 2015, but said Miliband and Balls were right to focus on setting Labour's "priorities and direction of travel" at this stage of the cycle – and not providing detailed policies. That was what Tony Blair did in the mid-90s. After a 40-year dither by governments of both parties, the Labour government belatedly committed itself to a third Heathrow runway, then backed off as the Tories and Liberal Democrats moved against it on environmental grounds. That remains Labour's official position.
Darling said: "My fear is we could be bumping along the bottom for an entire decade if not longer – look at what happened in Japan."
He added that revived economic activity was also needed to generate renewed confidence and tax revenues, thus curbing the debt legacy of the banking crisis.
But subsidising house purchases inside the M25 – as chancellor George Osborne's budget intends – would only add to the existing bubble because the real problem is a shortage of supply.
The ex-chancellor said his only priority now was to be "totally focused" as chairman of the Better Together campaign to keep Scotland in the union with England – reversing the assumption until quite recently that SNP-led independence was "inevitable".
He ducked questions about his willingness to serve in an Ed Miliband government after 2015, but said Miliband and Ed Balls were right to focus on setting Labour's "priorities and direction of travel" at this stage of the cycle – and not providing detailed policies. That was what Tony Blair did in the mid-90s.