John Spellar
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Aviation |
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Dodgy politician
John Spellar, Minister for Aviation, behaved more like a lobbyist for the industry than as a minister who was supposed to represent the interests of all the people of the country. See John Spellar's diary for some examples of what he used to get up to before he was replaced.
5th July 2002 - Greener by Design conference, Royal Aeronautical Society
John Spellar's speech emphasised the need for the Government's White Paper on air transport
to reflect the claimed 'important contribution' made by the aviation industry to the UK economy.
8 Feb 2002 - Questions in the house
Already Friends of the Earth and other non-governmental organisations have spotted how
ministers are far more interested with their chums in business than they are in the
population they are supposed to represent. Jenny Tonge, MP, asks how often ministers
and civil servants have met with industry reprentatives and how often with non-governmental
organisations. John Spellar refuses to answer.
9th April 2002 - Airport Capacity Issues conference
John Spellar is keynote speaker at this industry conference but has to withdraw at the
last minute to attend state funeral of Queen Mother. His speech, which is read out and
widely reported, draws heavily on the still unpublished regional air studies to assert
the claimed economic benefits of more airport and aviation growth. He says that if increases in capacity
are not provided " .. fares would rise sharply, perhaps by more than £100 per return journey .." He provides
no evidence or authority for that figure. He also says " .. meeting a high proportion of demand could produce
net benefits to the national economy with a present value of over well over £15 billion and perhaps as much as £20
billion .. ". He does not say where this comes from. In fact it comes from the discredited report of Oxford
Economic Forecasting, the consultancy who were paid by the aviation industry to produce a rigged and misleading report
which is being used to justify massive growth in aviation. The
speech makes passing reference to the public's concerns about the Government's aviation policy.
9 May 2002 - BAA plc's transport conference, Heathrow
John Spellar was billed as the keynote speaker, but his speech was read out by a civil
servant. John Spellar draws on the unpublished and therefore unchallengeable air
studies to claim that: "flights from the main airports in the South East could typically
cost £100 more, in real terms, by 2030 if no additional runway capacity were provided over that period."
June 2002 - Adding spin
Ministers find time to change the consultation documents so as to give them a stronger
pro-growth spin. We assume that John Spellar was involved. This interference was one of the reasons
for the delay in publication of the documents.
3rd July 2002 - Speech to the UK Aviation Club
John Spellar again draws on the unpublished and therefore unchallengeable
air studies to claim that: "flights from the main airports in the South East could
typically cost £100 more." The minister fails to state that the Government's air
studies and consultation documents are based on an assumption that the price of
flights will continue fall over the thirty years by as much as 44 per cent. He
also fails to mention that the current price of aviation in no way reflects the
environmental and social costs and that he is assuming that the industry will continue to be heavily subsidized.
23rd July 2002 - Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling, announces
airport options.
The consultation documents are seriously and systematically misleading. A senior Civil Servant says
that the ministers re-wrote the documents that the Department for Transport drafted.
24th July 2002 - Freedom to Fly conference, TUC HQ
John Spellar states that his: "Government already shares many of the principles espoused
by Freedom to Fly", and that in proposing the large scale airport expansion announced the
day before the aim remains "to ensure that the future of aviation is sustainable. We're
firmly committed to that. .. it won't be easy to strike the right balance to achieve a
sustainable outcome." The Minister shows his weak grasp of the imperative of sustainable
development by suggesting that it is about 'balancing' and trading off the environment
for other aims - the approach which has led to current problems.
2nd September 2002 - John Spellar 'delegates' Freedom to Fly meeting to Alistair Darling Alistair Darling meets the Freedom to Fly pro-aviation industry lobby group during the week starting 2nd September. He tells them to stop asking for more expansion but to tell him where to put it.
16th September 2002 - London First seminar, RAC club, Pall Mall
John Spellar joins Freedom to Fly at London First's pro-aviation event. He says that
aviation is the key reason why London is the only global city in Europe. He forgets
to mention that the great majority of air travel is for leisure, not business, and that
the great majority of forecast growth is for ever-shorter breaks, such as weekends in
Prague. He also fails to point out this leisure travel takes far more money out of the
country than it brings in.
30th September 2002 - Labour Party conference, Blackpool
Plenty of time for John Spellar and Alistair Darling to meet old friends. Especially as some of
them sponsored the conference !
16 Oct 2002 - Parliamentary debate
David Jamieson (junior to John Spellar) receives a mauling from MPs whose constituencies would be devastated by
the government's airport development proposals.
Nov 2002 - Speech to Local Government Association
John Spellar says "That is why, from the outset, we have made clear our commitment to sustainability. He then
explains what he means by sustainability by saying "There will need to be a proper balance between economic,
social and environmental considerations". That is, we can trade off the environment for economic considerations.
He makes it quite clear where his view of the 'balance' lies " .. the air transport industry is undoubtedly one
of the UK's great business success stories. In turn, it contributes much to the success of our economy. We
want to ensure that it continues to flourish in an increasingly competitive world."
Feb 2003 - Farnborough airport opening
On Wednesday 5 February 2003, Farnborough airport was officially opened by John Spellar,
despite very strong local opposition and even though it lacks full planning consent. Reading from a script that
appeared to have been prepared by TAG Aviation, the operators of the airport, he cited a £140 million saving for
busy executives, but made no mention of the costs. He said that local concerns on environment, noise etc were
respected which is blatantly untrue and that "Every effort is made to maintain harmonious relations with the
community" which is also not true. He igonred the fact that TAG have refused to set up a proper Consultative
Committee which would address community concerns. He listened silently while Roger McMullin, TAG chief executive'
said "In
carrying out this work, we have also taken the opportunity to make considerable environmental improvements to the
heathlands and to Cove Brook within the airfield." In fact, environmental devastation of the adjacent heathlands
has happened, with the government abusing 'Crown Immunity' so as to prevent the local community stopping the damage.
Mar 2003 - Health issues recognised - but only for travellers
John Spellar announced that a whole new unit will be established to deal with aviation health issues (News Release
003/0027). Funding worth £200,000 a year will initially be provided by the Department for Transport to establish
and run the new Unit. Fine for passengers, but a pity John Spellar is not bothered about the health impacts on people
who live on the ground ! (It is estimated that 57 people die every year as a result from air pollution from Heathrow alone.)
April 2003 Sustainable Aviation (?!) at the Royal Aeronautical Society Conference,
John Spellar says that the governments aim is " .. very simply .. to develop a sustainable future for
aviation." He then defines sustainability in a virtually meaningles way so that any amount of growth with
any amount of impact could be claimed to be sustainable: "That means taking economic, social and environmental
considerations into account." He even says " .. we have made a commitment to reduce the UK's carbon dioxide
emissions by 60% by around 2050." while not giving the slightest indication of how the government intends to pevent
aviation wreking this aim. He next uses the old chestnut of jobs, despite the fact that even the economists used by the
the industry and government, Oxford Economic Forecasting, say that the volume of air travel does not affect the total
amount of employment in the UK. Finally, he resorts to misrepresenting opponents of unbridled expansion such as FOE. He
says "And society should think very carefully before simply bringing down the shutters on the freedom to fly."
which is not why they are asking for. He also says "The most irritating is that the aviation industry benefits
unfairly from billions of pounds of public subsidy". What the opponents actually say is that aviation industry avoids
taxes of £9 billion pa (no tax on fuel, no VAT, duty-free) - which he is unable to refute.