Can you trust the Conservatives on Stansted Airport?

10.38.00pm GMT Thu 25th Feb 2010

In a letter to the local newspapers Stansted Councillor Alan Dean draws attention to the Conservatives' sudden lack of enthusiasm for high speed rail links and questions whether their opposition to Stansted expansion is equally changeable.

"The Liberal Democrats backed new, high-speed railway lines years ago as an alternative to higher-polluting aviation for domestic and continental travel. New, faster railways would reduce the need for more air travel and extra airport runways at Heathrow and Stansted. It's been proved in France and Spain, where people have switched from air to rail.

Later the Conservatives took up the cause and backed a new line to the north that would take in Heathrow Airport. The Labour government joined in what seemed might become an all-party initiative. They came up with real plans with routes that their Lord Adonis wanted to discuss with other political parties.

But last week the Conservatives backed off discussing the proposals. Apparently they are afraid of losing the votes of Tory-supporting residents in Buckinghamshire, through which county the new railway would pass. They seem happy to talk about the principle but are afraid of getting down to detail.

Where does this leave Conservative policy on airports? Does their flip-flopping on rail travel to secure election votes signal that their opposition to a second runway at Stansted is also only to get more votes for Tory candidates in this area? Is their aviation policy only as skin-deep and opportunistic as their railway policy seems to be?"