Tories urge end to airport expansion

The Conservative party will today call for the grinding to a halt of all major airport expansion in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.

The proposal, put forward by the Party’s Quality of Life Group, wants new runways planned for Stansted and Gatwick airports ditched and a moratorium on the proposed on for Heathrow.

Speaking on the Today show, former environment minister and co-author of the new report John Gummer said: “There’s no need for those runways. We want to look at the Heathrow one properly, look at it in a European context and look at it through the eyes of climate change”

On housing the 500-page report, also written by environmentalist and prospective Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith, is expected to propose rebates on stamp duty and council tax for energy efficient properties. It is also set to call for any home improvements to be offset energy savings being made in other parts of the property.

Gummer said that the country needed tackle the issue of climate change “or our children are going to live in a planet that’s increasingly unpleasant”. “Either we stop emitting in the degree that we are by 80% by 2050 or we could then find that the Gulf Stream is diverted.”

Co-author of the report Zac Goldsmith said at its launch that the report was "the most thorough review of environmental policies ever conducted by a political Party. It is radical but practical, pioneering but realistic, and shows how the next Conservative government can deliver the change we need."