Heathrow debate: ‘A third runway would shred Britain’s green credibility’

If politics is about choices, and choices are about priorities, then nothing defines our generation more than the actions we take on climate change.

It is an issue that cannot be overstated; a subject where exaggeration is impossible. We are making decisions about the future existence and habitability of our entire world.

At the centre of this question is the debate on a third runway at Heathrow airport, which has taken sudden priority in Westminster. The chancellor Rachel Reeves has in the past week signalled strongly her support for the long debated, very controversial, aviation project that has divided politicians for over a decade.

It is expected the issue will once again split the party, the cabinet and much of the PLP in the coming days – as those who have been long standing critics of Heathrow expansion will have their resolve tested.

I have been involved in this debate since my days as a student. I have lived in the area surrounding Heathrow, been a local Labour councillor in the Heathrow villages and a Parliamentary candidate in Uxbridge and South Ruislip – where this issue is so prevalent amongst constituents. Most importantly, I have spent most of my adult life breathing in the air in Hillingdon – with all its emissions and dangers therein.

Securing our green credibility

The inescapable reality is that getting behind a third runway project would shred our government’s green credibility within our first year in power.

It will act as a signal to all those watching around the world that we are not serious in meeting our climate obligations and critically, for those of us in the surrounding areas and in London, it means further deterioration of  our health and environment.

Heathrow is already the single biggest source of carbon emissions in the entire United Kingdom.

As it stands, if we were to do absolutely nothing, the anticipated emissions from aviation will be 23 megatonnes of CO2 by 2050. The proposed expansion, if it is allowed to go ahead, would add an additional nine megatonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere per year and could increase anticipated emissions to more than 27 megatonnes by 2050.

And it is not just carbon dioxide. An airplane’s engine emits a plethora of other gases, including nitrous oxide, sulfur oxide, soot and so much more. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has been clear in their estimates, suggesting that these non-CO2 emissions could triple the greenhouse gas impacts of aviation over the coming years.

READ MORE: Heathrow debate: ‘Third runway Labour’s trump card for trade and growth’

It does not take an environmental science degree to know those are all things that do not belong in human lungs or in a healthy environment. This is what we have to breathe in. The area around Heathrow is already the second major hot spot for nitrogen dioxide pollution, with regular breaches of legal limits recorded close to the airport over the years.

Those breathing this in are schools and nursing homes, hospitals and colleges, all breathing in this contaminated air every day and dealing with lifelong illnesses as a result.

Lobbyists and proponents of a Heathrow third runway will claim this project unlocks economic benefits and that we are on a pathway to greener aviation. Their claim is that there can be ways to make flight cleaner in the years to come and bring prices down for consumers.

The truth is, on greener aviation, they are making promises on technologies that do not yet exist. To suggest we will one day develop ways to fly across the Atlantic without these emissions is the equivalent of developing policy on the back of an IOU to the future.

‘Doing nothing is no longer an option’

Similarly, their promises of economic growth are stories that so many of us have heard before on previous projects. We are smarter than to fall for them again. The potential of jobs that never come, ticket price drops that never materialise and economic booms that only ever exist for the very rich.

Here’s a fact that they won’t tell you in their economic argument leaflets: it is only 1% of the world’s population that accounts for over 50% of aviation emissions. This runway is for them, not for you and I.

Most of us who have long opposed this project have never been against infrastructure development – particularly in transport. We have been vocal champions of transforming Britain’s infrastructure for the next generation.

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Our country lags far behind other leading economies in connectivity. But that cannot be at the cost of our planet’s and environment’s health. That is why I am adding my voice alongside London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the sir Keir Starmer from 2020, who opposed the project then on environmental grounds.

This is not tomorrow’s problem. Climate change was once described as preserving the world for a future generation, and it is. But we are now seeing its effects in real time now. The fires burning through Los Angeles, the droughts and heatwaves in Pakistan and the floods in our country.

Doing nothing is no longer an option. We must set our vision now and let the world know that in the fight for the future of our world, where some may give in to conspiracies and deny climate change, Britain is leading.

That can only mean no to a third runway at Heathrow.

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