Ministers urged to expand Birmingham Airport

The Dudley North MP said the decision to back a new runway at Heathrow Airport would ensure the bulk of investment and new jobs would go to the south east rather than the Midlands.

He called on Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to consider a second runway at Birmingham International Airport if the Government is serious about boosting growth in the regions.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Austin said: “For all the talk of balanced economic growth and boosting the regions, it’s the same old story with the bulk of the investment, the spending, the jobs and the benefits always all in London and the south east.

“Ministers should have shown some imagination and backed Birmingham Airport and if they had used HS2 to link the airport to Heathrow as I suggested, it would have been just about as quick to get between the two airports as it would be to travel from central London to Heathrow at the moment.

“Imagine the boost that would give the West Midlands – it would have meant we’d get our fair share of the economic growth and thousands of extra well-paid jobs airport investment could bring.

"Instead, as usual, the bulk of the spending and the jobs will go to London and the south east.”

Proposals for a third runway at Heathrow were approved at a meeting of ministers on the Cabinet’s economic sub-committee. MPs will be given a vote on the scheme by early July.

Mr Grayling told MPs that a third runway at Heathrow would benefit the whole country, because it will allow the creation of more domestic flights linking Heathrow with regional airports.

However, Birmingham Airport is unlikely to benefit as it is too close to Heathrow to make flights between the two airports viable.

And Mr Grayling admitted that the announcement could actually make it harder for Birmingham Airport to win customers as it would experience 'a greater competitive pressure'.

The majority of Conservatives are expected to back the Heathrow expansion, although Labour's official position is unclear.

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: "Expansion should only happen if it can effectively deliver on the capacity demands, if noise and air quality issues are fully addressed, if the UK’s climate change obligations are met in their entirety, and that growth across the country is supported."