The new government will be wary of upsetting their new power base in South West England that was a Lib Dem stronghold until this week.
Why would devolving APD to Wales and the WAG reducing it to zero upset the people of the southwest. Surely they would be pleased that they could fly long haul cheaper out of Cardiff.
Indeed, a lot of people from Somerset and Gloucestershire would appreciate decent fares to Dubai and the like without needing to go to LHR
If government action was likely to adversely affect CWL to the benefit of BRS the Wales Assembly Government, AMS and local MPS would undoubtedly be vehemently opposed, and no-one should or would be surprised. They would be standing up for the interests of their country.
Ergo, any government action that might adversely affect BRS is likely to attract similar opposition from MPs in that area, most of whom are now members of the Westminster Government’s party.
Look at the disquiet felt by elected representative in the North East of England vis-a-vis the proposed devolution of APD to Scotland and its possible effects on NCL.
Any contraction of an airport will always be seen by many as a threat to the health of the local economy with the spectre of job losses - whether it is always that much of a threat might sometimes be arguable.
If APD was devolved to Wales and BRS was likely to suffer because it might lose routes/services or not get some it might otherwise have done then that would certainly not be viewed in a favourable light by most West Country MPs, not to mention many local authority representatives and business and industry leaders.
No doubt some West Country travellers would be pleased to travel a bit cheaper on long haul even if it meant flying from a neighbouring airport, but they would be even more pleased if government action allowed them to fly less expensively from their own local airport.
But this was not the point I was trying to make in my previous post. It was that the Westminster Conservative Government is likely to face serious opposition from it own West Country MPs if it devolves APD to Wales without trying to mitigate the effects on BRS. I have no idea how such mitigation could be achieved.
I don’t fly much on short haul at all now as I once did. Flying no longer holds any pleasure for me (and even less for my wife) when getting there by air was once considered by us to be an enjoyable part of any holiday. My wife and I do fly to Australia every year for family reasons and we don’t find getting to Birmingham or London from the Bristol area to reach an Emirates service any chore at all. If CWL did get itself an MEB3 start-up we would certainly be very interested to see what was on offer.