The government has realised that planes will still take off, even in a lower carbon future, so they may as well do it from Heathrow. They should apply the same logic to fossil fuels and allow drilling in the North Sea

There is something fundamentally dishonest about pretending to meet net zero by moving flights or fossil extraction onto other countries, so we can enjoy the benefits without the emissions being set against our ledger. It’s a-too-clever-by-half scheme that impresses few but risks costing hundreds of thousands of people their jobs and impoverishing the nation. Sir Keir Starmer should admit he made a mistake, seize the opportunities for growth in not just Britain’s skies but its seabeds too, and tell Ed Miliband to focus on getting more solar panels and wind turbines built.

Not mentioned here, but if the government does go ahead with expanding airports and North Sea operations, it will be doing exactly what the trade unions want.