Ruth Davidson: Best solution to Scotland’s air dilemma is third runway at Heathrow

WITH 70 million people ­passing through every year, Heathrow Airport is full up. How we solve the problems facing the UK’s most vital gateway is an issue for the whole country, Scotland included.

Heathrow is one of the world’s great airports and its continuing success is ­crucial not only for Britain’s global trade as a whole but also for the health of Scottish business.

There are many suggestions for how to unblock the Heathrow logjam and a third runway to provide sufficient capacity to meet growing demand has been top of the list for some time, although not without problems. As a Westminster candidate in the 2010 election, I campaigned on a manifesto containing opposition to a third runway, but priorities – and economic landscapes – change.

There is nothing quite like a discussion of Scotland’s transport needs to get people steamed up and, if we are being honest, apart from motorway construction, the network on the ground has changed little in generations.

Dr Beeching would find Scottish rail infrastructure pretty much as he left it in the 1960s, and I remain astounded that Scotland’s two biggest cities do not have a standard six-lane motorway between them. The main road to the Highlands, the A9, remains a death strip despite the SNP promise of major improvements five years ago.

And after the close of the Edinburgh Festivals, few need reminding of the bad joke that is the Edinburgh tram project, only now looking like it might be completed within our lifetime.

Sadly, the SNP government has ignored the importance of Scotland’s airports by cancelling not one, but two major rail projects to provide the whole country with direct train links to both Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports. Given that they are at each end of the creaking M8, the lack of a (literally) joined-up transport policy is plain for all to see.

But air travel is a success story and at Edinburgh International Airport, the once homely Turnhouse aerodrome now smoothly handles nine million passengers a year and has just undergone a transformation to keep its facilities bang up to date.

A total of £260 million has being spent in the past ten years with a further £240m of investment earmarked for the next ­decade. But for efficient domestic services to play their part in making that investment pay, further expansion at Heathrow is essential. Edinburgh will still grow without expansion at Heathrow, but the beneficiaries will be hubs overseas.

In politics, you should be big enough to change your mind and I believe there is now an overwhelming argument for a third runway. However, for business in Scotland to enjoy the full benefits of this extra capacity, air passenger duty must also be scrapped.

Taxes on air travel are higher in the UK than anywhere else in the world, rising by 300 per cent on some routes, and of course for anyone travelling via another airport south of the Border, they have to pay double duty.

With the priority for landing slots at Heathrow going to more profitable European or long-haul flights, domestic services risk being squeezed out. Those remaining, such as BA’s service from Glasgow, are increasingly vulnerable to price hikes. And without expansion, airports such as Inverness and Aberdeen cannot launch new services for which there is already proven demand.

For a booming airport like Edinburgh, the choice is clear. Its market is too small to become a hub in its own right, so to make sure Scotland does not miss out on international opportunities it must ­develop services with other hub airports such as Amsterdam – Schiphol has six runways – and Frankfurt, and increasingly Istanbul. It now aims to link up with a partner in the Middle East.

So that means Scottish long-haul passengers needing connections will face longer first journeys to less familiar surroundings. Economically, it means foreign airports win trade which would otherwise stay in the UK.

All this persuades me to support the Scottish case for increasing capacity at Heathrow. We cannot wait for Boris ­Island or put all our eggs in the basket of a high-speed rail link. We cannot afford to lose domestic services and we certainly shouldn’t sit back and let Scottish travellers shoulder the burden of higher fares when a solution is at hand.

My colleagues at Westminster whose constituencies are on the Heathrow flight-path have quite rightly stood up for their local interests – but so too, as the leader of a party with the best interests of Scottish business at heart, is it my duty to stand up and make the case for our constituency of interest.

It was unwise to attempt to turn this into a test of the Prime Minister’s leadership, but it is important he is aware of all views on an issue crucial to Scotland’s prosperity. «

• Ruth Davidson MSP is leader of the Scottish ­Conservatives