Civil Aviation Bill

If the hon. Gentleman would wait just a moment, he might hear my suggestion. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister was apparently persuaded of the case for a new airport in the Thames estuary, a position that lasted a full 24 hours before the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) slapped him down. Then the papers were briefed that new runways at Gatwick or Stansted were back on the agenda, despite the coalition agreement seemingly ruling that out. British business cannot afford this chaos and confusion continuing until or even beyond the next election. That is why I have made a clear offer to the Secretary of State for us to work together and put aside our differences for the good of the country to see whether we can agree a joint position on how we can meet the capacity issues in light of the decision on Heathrow. We have been disappointed that, three months on, the Government have not responded to that offer. I was, however, encouraged by the constructive response from the Conservative party chair, Baroness Warsi, on last week's BBC ““Question Time””, in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg). She said:"““Some serious discussions—cross-party discussions—have to take place, because I don't think anyone in this country wants us to be a republic which is left behind and really nobody wants to trade with.””" Leaving aside why the chair of the Conservative party believes that we are a republic, she is right to agree with us that we need a cross-party approach, and about the consequences of not agreeing a way forward. If the Transport Secretary would like to confirm that she does accept our offer and is willing to begin talks on how we can move forward on this issue together, then I am happy to give way.