I am very sympathetic to the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Stephen. Indeed, I have said on many occasions that the problem we have with the
lack of expansion in the south-east is mainly the impact on the regions of the United Kingdom. The three cities most at risk from lack of expansion in the south-east are Belfast, Aberdeen and Inverness. They are the most squeezed. I am sure the Minister will say that this is not the place for an amendment of this nature. He is already nodding. I am not surprised as I think that that is a fair analysis of the structure of the Bill. However, the noble Lord, Lord Stephen, has given us an important opportunity, which we should not duck, to recognise that the regions of the United Kingdom need access to the global market and do not have sufficient access at the moment. I have named three of the cities, but I could go on to mention Bristol, Exeter or Cardiff in the west. A number of them are hit by this problem. He and probably a lot of the country will be relieved that I do not intend to wax lyrical about the need to expand Heathrow or an alternative but, believe me, we need that report from Howard Davies very rapidly. We are in serious trouble.
4.30 pm
The Minister kindly circulated the letter he sent in response to the letter from Kevin Stewart, the MSP for Aberdeen Central, which states:
“Access to Heathrow as the main UK hub is hugely important for the oil and gas industry”,
which is particularly important around Aberdeen, and which the noble Lord, Lord Stephen, mentioned. He is absolutely right. Inverness and that region also need growth because they obtain a lot of work related to the oil and gas industry. Expansion of a hub airport in the south, which in the short term means Heathrow, is therefore important and has to be given serious consideration.
In response to that letter, the Minister rightly and encouragingly states that he does,
“not believe this matter is best addressed through the Bill,”
but that he,
“would be happy to meet with any member of the House who wishes to discuss the longer-term options to address regional connectivity”.
I am sure that he means that and it is important.
I wish to make another point in relation to Kevin Stewart’s letter. He is right and has hit the nail on the head. What puzzles me—I say this knowing of the debate in Scotland on independence—is that in the House of Commons his party has consistently voted against the expansion of Heathrow. Angus Robertson, the MP for Moray, which more or less covers the Inverness area in terms of the link to the airport, has also been consistently against Heathrow expansion. I can understand the argument—although it is a poor one—that Scotland will be better off outside the UK. My strong hope is that the majority of the British people will take the view that Scotland is not better off outside the UK and that we are all much stronger together. However, my point is that it is utter madness if you believe that you can take Scotland outside the UK and then not have a premier hub airport that your other airports and major cities have a link to. It is economic suicide, whether for a Scotland in the UK or out of it.
The noble Lord, Lord Stephen, made his point powerfully and I see the noble Lord, Lord Empey, nodding because, again, Belfast is in an exposed position. We cannot make a success of our manufacturing and service industries unless we have a premier hub airport with enough slots to enable the regions of the United Kingdom to reach out to European and global markets.
I hope that in his response, the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, will make it clear, rather as he hints in his letter, that he is acutely aware of the needs of the regions. Although this may not be the right place for the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Stephen, I hope that the Minister will make it clear that we are acutely aware of the need for the regions to expand. The SNP simply voting against expansion at Heathrow or anything else does not answer the problem. The answer for the regions is to have a premier hub airport through which they can give their markets access to the wider world and have import/export opportunities, which are widely open in the rest of Europe. I hope that the Minister, in his answer, even though I am sure he will not be able to accept the amendment, will indicate strongly that this is an urgent need that the country as a whole must face up to.