HEATHROW'S STATUS AS THE UK'S HUB AIRPORT

That this House welcomes research by Oxford Economics which concludes that without Government support for a UK hub airport, Britain could lose up to 140,000 jobs; endorses the view of Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite, in calling for urgent action to be taken in order to maintain the status of Heathrow as a hub airport; agrees with his comment that `Our politicians must think big and act in the national interest. We need an aviation strategy that acknowledges Heathrow as a hub, and we need it now'; further welcomes the comments of Mick Rix of the GMB union, who described the Government's opposition to Heathrow expansion as 'plain daft`; notes that the Institute of Directors has also endorsed the Oxford Economics report, which found that capacity constraints will cost the UK 4.5 billion in GDP from foreign investment and 1.6 billion in lost trade with emerging markets by 2021; and calls on the Government urgently to put jobs and the national interest ahead of electoral interests and to consider all options when it comes to aviation policy, up to and including airport expansion.