I meet John Penrose during the election campaign and when I questioned him he was firmly in favour of BRS expansion plans - particularly now that the airport had made concessions; by that I read contributed £4.3 to an A38-A370 link road, amongst other things. He suggested that with a pure conservative govt, he could not foresee any additional hurdles (apart from the environmental statistics supplied by BRS stacking up ) being put in place by Westminster to scupper the plans. However it's not him that is voting next week, but he may certainly be with the allies when the shouting starts.
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New tourism minister welcomed
The Tourism Society has welcomed the appointment of John Penrose as tourism minister in the new coalition government.
The Conservative MP is seen to have an "inherent undestanding" of the importance of tourism given that his constituency is the resort of Weston-super-Mare.
Penrose was previously shadow minister for business entereprise and regulatory reform.
This means he should "view tourism from a business/economic perspective and be understanding of regulatory reform," according to the Tourism Society.
The appointment also fulfills the Conservative pledge to appoint a dedicated tourism minister.
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