Conservatives: High-speed rail link is key

Tuesday, 13, Jan 2009 12:00

Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers comments on the government's impending decision about whether to build a third runway at Heathrow airport:

"As evidence mounts that Labour is on the wrong side of the argument on expansion, Gordon Brown is dithering over the decision on Heathrow he has been promising for months.

"The prime minister's environmental credibility is at stake here. Unless he listens to dissent in his own party and drops his misguided plans for a third runway, no one will believe a word Labour says on pollution and climate change.

"Instead he should support Conservative proposals to build a world-class high-speed rail link to the airport, which will relieve overcrowding problems by providing a viable alternative to thousands of short-haul flights."