How to write to your MP

Copy and paste the text below into an email to your MP and don’t forget to personalise the bits in bold.

Find out who your MP is.

Dear [Name of your MP],

I am writing as a constituent of [your constituency] to voice my opposition to the proposed expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports, as well as expansion at other airports across the UK.

The government’s own advisors, the Climate Change Committee, say there should be no net airport expansion if we are to meet the UK’s legally-binding net zero targets. 

Reeves has said that economic growth can go hand in hand with sustainable aviation, but that’s not the case.

While planes are more fuel-efficient than they used to be, the growth in demand has consistently outstripped any efficiency gains made. Expansion would push emissions up more than fuel-efficient engines would bring them down.

The government is relying on so-called ‘sustainable’ aviation fuel (SAF) to keep emissions down, but there are huge question marks over the sustainability of SAF. Most recently, a plant in Sunderland has announced plans to turn used tyres into SAF, even though the resulting fuel will emit just as much CO2 as kerosene when burned, and the process of converting tyres to oil is energy- and carbon-intensive, meaning that using this oil is overall worse than conventional jet fuel. This is the reality of SAF.

In addition, more planes means more noise and air pollution in areas surrounding airports. Local residents already suffer poor mental and physical health as a result of planes landing and taking off nearby, and expansion would make this worse.

Reeves points to economic growth, but the New Economics Foundation has shown that previous airport expansions have not delivered the expected economic growth, and as more tourist spending goes out of the UK than comes in through airports, on balance, airports create a deficit in our economy.

The argument for economic growth cannot come at a cost to the environment, when climate change is among the biggest challenges we are currently facing. 

Will you oppose the expansion of all UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton?

Best wishes,

[your name]

[your postcode]