Green New Deal Rising have been leading the opposition to Heathrow expansion.
Here they explain why.
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Today, we pulled no punches! After tracking down the ‘top-secret’ venue of Rachel Reeves’ big speech on the economy, a group of us travelled early this morning to Oxfordshire to make sure we caught Reeves as she confirmed our fears, approving a massive expansion of Heathrow. This is a catastrophic mistake, for our economy and our planet. Because there is no growth on a dead planet. |
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And we know half the cabinet agree with us. That’s why we brought placards showing the social media posts of cabinet members explaining why they opposed Heathrow expansion just a few years ago – including the Prime Minister himself. |
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Today, Reeves claimed that it’s growth over everything else, including our burning planet. But the thing is: we can’t have economic growth on a dead planet. And expanding our aviation industry – the most polluting form of transport there is – will ensure we bust past safe climate limits, pouring oil on the already raging flames of this crisis. Even in the short-term, expanding airports will do nothing to boost our sluggish economy. Business passenger numbers have been falling for 20 years as business has moved online. All this decision will do is ensure a small number of frequent leisure flyers leave and spend their money outside the UK economy more regularly. That’s why previous expansions in airport capacity haven’t led to increased productivity or GDP. We just can’t have economic prosperity if we don’t get control of the climate emergency. And there are so many ways we can revitalise our economy which don’t destroy our future: investing in high-speed rail, good green jobs to decarbonise our economy, community energy and adaptation. The only responsible way to safeguard our economy is to address the colossal threat posed to it by the climate crisis through mass public investment to transition away from fossil fuels, creating jobs and bringing wealth and security back to communities at the same time. This fight is not over. It’ll be years before construction gets underway, so we will continue to fight this decision with everything we have. |
