Last week, Leo Hickman at the Guardian observed, was a great time to be burying bad news. Like the governmental go-ahead for expansion at Stansted airport for example:
Would he [Geoff Hoon] have dared do so at any other time given that it was just 72 hours ago that the government’s committee on climate change, chaired by Lord Turner (some week he’s having what with his other job at the FSA), said that the UK’s carbon reduction target for 2050 should be raised from 60% to 80% and include shipping and aviation?
This must surely rank as one of the Labour government’s quickest… I want to call it a U-turn but I think that credits them with too much semi-conscious intent.
The plans are to increase the number of flights using the current runway, rather than building anything new. There is however a second runway application in the pipeline as well, and the Tories are making a lot of noise about opposing this when if we get into government. They are not undertaking to reverse the main expansion decision. Nonetheless, the Tory commitment not to allow a second runway at Stansted is most welcome, and accompanied by the reiteration of another commitment not to allow a third runway at Heathrow. So I’m sure we’ll all be very pleased to acknowledge that. And pin it to our fridges.
Now for the key question. If the supposedly buried bad news still ended up in a broadsheet leader column for all of us to chuckle knowingly at, what news did the government really bury last week?
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One Comment
I cvan’t help thinking the Tory conversion on the road to expansion is driven by the potential for Lib Dem expansion at their expense in Uttlesford (North Essex) and SW London. Its the same thing driving their opposition to 42 days, etc. These are not people who were green civil liberties exponents five years ago.