Salmond ready for PM aviation talks

Sep 13 2012

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond will meet the Prime Minister and the heads of the devolved administrations next week.

Mr Salmond is heading to London on Wednesday for a meeting of the joint ministerial committee (JMC).

A Scottish Government spokesman said the independence referendum will not be on the agenda.

He confirmed that Mr Salmond and Prime Minister David Cameron will meet to discuss the referendum at a later date.

The JMC will instead focus on aviation policy and the economy.

Speaking at First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Salmond said: "I will be discussing the issue of aviation policy at the JMC meeting next week.

"I know that the other devolved administrations share my view that air passenger duty (APD) would be an important weapon in terms of attracting more direct flights to and from Scotland.

"Even if there were to be a new runway at Heathrow it wouldn`t solve the difficulty that we have that when Heathrow is clogged up, as it was during the Olympics, that it`s not just the case of people having difficulty getting to Scotland.

"People are deterred from actually coming to Scotland as a result of that extraordinary congestion in the Heathrow hub.Therefore, we need more direct flights. One of the ways of getting more direct flights is to use APD as a means of doing so. That has broad support across the devolved administration, and the carriers.

"It was actually one of the recommendations of the Calman Commission (on devolution) and I would hope that I can carry the support of this entire Parliament in making that case in London next week."