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News that Labour is to rule out a second runway at

For the life of the next Parliament.

The party is still in favour of a third runway at ... but it has changed its mind about Stansted:

"We will not allow additional runways to proceed at any other airport in the next Parliament."

The Conservatives were quick off the mark.

, said: "Just three weeks before the general election a tired Labour government has finally caved in and accepted the Conservative position on Stansted.

"Conservatives have opposed a second runway for years and will stop it happening if we win the general election."

Hang on a minute - isn't there a touch of pots calling kettles?

I personally tried to extract a promise over the second runway from a tight-lipped David Cameron not that long ago.

And yes, we still do still have the tape.

It took until 2008 before the Conservative leader told us he would oppose a second runway, something the Lib Dems had pledged seven years ago.

But it shouldn't simply be a matter of political point scoring.

There is real planning blight for thousands of homes there.

Commmunities where post offices are long gone, pubs struggle to survive, rows of "for sale" signs adorn the streets.

The whole area is suffering from years of disinvestment and... neglect.

People are not political footballs. They deserve better than this. They deserve to know if their community has a future.

And it's not fair to keep them waiting for another Parliament to find out.

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