Brown meets rebel Heathrow MPs

The escalating row over plans for a third runway at Heathrow took a fresh twist yesterday, when Gordon Brown met Labour MPs for talks in Downing Street as part of an effort to head off a threatened backbench rebellion over the government's expected support for the expansion plans.

The government is being widely tipped to give the go-ahead for a third runway if it can be satisfied that expansion will not lead to a breach of EU noise and air pollution rules.

However, were it to grant approval for the proposals it is likely to face a backbench rebellion on the decision after a group of Labour MPs signalled that they would side with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in opposing a decision they believe will undermine the government's climate change credentials.

An early day motion urging the government to rethink its plans for a third runway has been signed by 146 MPs, including more than 50 Labour backbenchers – enough to cause the government some concern that it could face defeat on the issue.

A consultation on the proposed expansion has now closed and the government is expected to report in the next few weeks on whether a new runway – which would increase the number of flights to and from Heathrow from 480,000 a year to more than 700,000 – should go ahead.

MPs with constituencies near Heathrow have been particularly vocal about their concerns.

"I have received literally thousands of e-mails and letters on the subject and I cannot recall one of them being in favour of the expansion of Heathrow," said Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammermsith and Fulham in a Commons debate yesterday.

"As for the government, little appears to have changed since the 2003 White Paper on the subject, yet, on the ground, almost everything has changed," he continued.

The 2003 white paper said that air transport was a key part of the economy and that expansion of capacity was crucial. A second consultation was then ordered in response to mounting opposition to the plans from local residents and green groups.

Slaughter led the delegation to Downing Street along with Martin Salter, MP for Reading West, who also argued that the justification for expansion put forward in the 2003 white paper no longer stands up to scrutiny.

"Does the Secretary of State not realise that five years down the track, we do not have a single fast-track public transport link to Heathrow airport from the west, and so any increase in capacity will increase carbon emissions and gridlock?" he asked yesterday.

Airport operator BAA maintains that expansion of the airport is essential and that UK competitiveness will be compromised if a third runway is not built. It claims that while Heathrow is operating at around 99 per cent capacity, rival airports such as such as Charles de Gaulle, Schiphol and Frankfurt operate at between 70 and 75 per cent.

However, green groups have argued that expansion of the airport will undermine the government's climate change strategy and risk breaching EU rules governing local air and noise pollution. They have also questioned the government's rationale for supporting the project, claiming that rising fuel prices and concerns over climate change will dampen future demand for air travel.

Earlier this year, campaigners against the runway secured support from the Conservative Party after David Cameron said that he would oppose expansion and instead seek to limit numbers of domestic flights by building a high-speed rail link between London and the North.