Civil Aviation Bill

Let me explain something to the hon. Member for Crawley (Laura Moffatt) straight away. I fully accept that she is here to speak for her constituents, whether they work at Gatwick airport or are affected by it. I do the best for my constituents, even though the nearest airport to my constituency is between 25 and 50 miles away. Nottingham East Midlands airport is strangely named: it is wholly within Leicestershire, has a Derbyshire postcode, and is owned by 10 local authorities in Manchester. The Government are keen on stressing how important it is that decisions should be made locally, yet our local decisions are made in the Manchester Airports Group headquarters, and my constituents have no purchase on the decision-making systems of Manchester Airports Group and Nottingham East Midlands airport, any more than do the constituents of the hon. Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) or those of the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Mr. Todd), whose constituencies are geographically much closer to the offending airport than mine. I too would like to have a reasonable dialogue. However, I discovered last week at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool—I discovered quite a few things there—that, according to a county councillor from Derbyshire, the management of Nottingham East Midlands airport hold the view that I, the Member for Harborough, am what is called a pain in the posterior. I am not sure whether that is a sensible way to describe a Member of Parliament who is doing his job. It may be true—perhaps they have been looking at my posterior—but it disturbed me that the level of dialogue by the airport management has reached the stage where they personally abuse Members of Parliament going about their constitutional duty.