News: Controversial MP calls for end to airport expansion

Flights > News > # 1743 (08/04/2008)

George Galloway says continued airport expansion will lead to environmental disaster.
Writing in his column for the Daily Record newspaper, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in London, said: “Still some fools say climate change is a myth, even a hoax, and we should carry on regardless.
“Building more and more terminals with more and more runways is paving the way to hell, or at least an uninhabitable inferno for our grandchildren.
Mr Galloway said aviation fuel is effectively untaxed, making flying a cheaper than taking the train on many domestic and European short-haul routes.
He added: “The sky is thick with UK to Paris and Brussels flights while the Eurostar glides greenly to both, half empty and twice as dear.”
Unlike some anti-aviation extremists though, Galloway is not calling for domestic flights to be banned.
“Of course, much aviation is vital. Neither can we have the working people and the poor priced out of the skies, leaving them for those with the cash, or more often the credit card, to command,” he said.