THE announcement about airport expansion has finally been made. It will be Heathrow, where a third runway will expand capacity for air travel in the South East of England. Airport expansion is long overdue and this announcement, whilst creating a significant amount of anguish amongst local residents in West London, is good news for the country as a whole. Our international connections are vital to our place in the world and this expansion meets the demands of the country in the future.

However, regular readers will know that I have, along with other MPs in the Midlands, advocated expansion at Birmingham airport. This would, my argument went, have both addressed regional connection as well as connecting our industrial sector with the rest of the world. It would have addressed a few political points in London as well. So a fair question to ask is: does expansion in the south east mean the midlands are being ignored?

The answer is: No. I met with the senior executives of Birmingham airport last week to find out what they felt about the announcement. They were remarkably up-beat and were talking a very positive story for Birmingham. The truth is, for us to be keeping up on the international connectivity stakes, we need to be expanding all our airports. Birmingham has existing spare capacity but is expanding at a healthy rate. But the opportunity for Birmingham airport lies in the building of HS2, the new high speed line from London to Scotland. When completed, Birmingham will be with 1 ½ hours of 75% of the population of the UK – truly at the heart of our transport network. The airport management has already drawn up very draft plans looking at how they can expand to form a transport hub for the UK connecting the HS2 network to the skies in Birmingham. This is a truly fantastic opportunity for the country’s second city.

Indeed, the opportunity is greater than that. The opportunities that Brexit present the UK can be maximised in the Midlands through our world beating automotive and aerospace sectors. This can be linked to the rest of the UK through HS2 and to the rest of the world through Birmingham airport. Indeed, we are seeing a financial services support hub developing locally. The future really is looking bright for our region.