It certainly wouldn't be called "Livingstone-Johnson". If this fantasy airport ever opens, those two individuals will be long forgotten, and twenty or so mayors will have been and gone (unless that office gets scrapped).
You know it's called SILVER ISLAND!
If built, THA would be built in the mid-2020s, by then (the office of the Mayor is not going to scraped, otherwise it would be 1986 all over again) there would have been at most 2 mayors since then
I also strongly doubt that Ken + Boris would have been forgotten by then, Livingstone has been around for the past 40 years (and has done a lot of good for London) and has spend most of that time annoying both the Tories and Labour, Boris would also be remembered, for all the wrong reasons
Also I only added his name so that it would not look poltically bias and THA should not be named after a stage name of a internet forum user
OK - Funded by the government = more borrowing.
Bonds from the general public, is that not another way of borrowing?.
QE - Printing money, not a bad idea if you are like me sick of your savings attracting little interest..as inflation will creep in and interest rates will creep up, for savers also.
But take the three combined,,We will be in hock for centuries and inflation will hit the roof, because a project like Boris Island will cost billions, and original estimates like the two aircraft carriers will always keep being revised upwards.
There a thought, use the carriers in conjunction with LHR, that would be cheap
.
The BofE has done £300 Billion worth of QE and that has had little impact on both economic growth and inflation, since THA would at most cost £200 Billion, I doubt if it would have major impact on inflation, certainly not as much as lets say a attack on Iran
As for borrowing it, if the Government funded the project 100% with borrowing, the most it would add would be 10%, which would leave us with less debt in proportion to GDP than Italy, Belgium, Canada and even Germany
Plus when you factor in the the fact a lot of that new debt would be held within the UK, it would not make too much of a impact
By the way, I am with you in terms of savings
Another way of borrowing, and at what rate of interest?.
It would depend on many factors, but I suggested 4%, which is the same as Government Bonds
The government will have to find the political will to expand LHR..
1) How long to get the THA on and off the drawing board?.
2) How much will it cost?
3) How long before it is built, IMO with the combination of these three factors, it will be no use building a HUB, the business will have been long gone to mainland Europe.
Yes, but remember we are dealing with a 21st century version with Major, add to that they are in government with the Lib Dems and the Tories cannot afford to lose any more seats that what they have, I cannot see them finding the poltical will
We would have to wait and see if Labour win with a big enough majority to cope with the fallout from approval, remember they have not got a hope in hell in winning those seats near the airports
As for how long it is going to take, if they fast track it and have enough resources (like in the case of HKIA), then I could see it being built in 10 years, hence it would open in the mid-2020s, until then we should allow mixed-mode and raise the threshold in how many slots BA can own to manage until THA opens