I HOPE the three local MPs voted against the third runway at Heathrow on the grounds of cost, both environmentally and economically, which cannot be justified.

I'm pretty sure Chris Green would have gone along and voted the way he was told to. I don't know about the other two.

One of the reasons in favour of the expansion we were told is that it would benefit the whole country.

When I heard this nonsense, I was reminded that the same argument was put forward to justify the 2012 London Olympics. The whole country will enjoy an Olympic legacy was the sales pitch. Oh really? I don't think so.

By giving the green light to major expansion at Heathrow, the government is implicitly putting London and the South East at the front of the queue again for the remaining transport infrastructure investment outside of HS2.

Adding a third runway to Heathrow will mean, in time, a major increase in the volume of passengers coming through the airport. It is clear that the expansion of Heathrow will further extend the level of economic activity in the South East and actively take investment away from the regions. So much for the promise to re-balance the economy across the UK.

The country has already spent far too much time on where a runway should go in the South East, when it should have been spent asking how we make the best use of existing spare capacity at UK airports such as Birmingham and Manchester.

The reputations of politicians of all parties is at an all time low. I recently wrote to The Bolton News saying that in my opinion the Prime Minister is the worst in living memory.

Since then, she has said that the NHS will receive extra funding partly paid for by the Brexit dividend — something she knows full well will not happen.

The Foreign Secretary went to Afghanistan to avoid fulfilling a pledge to the people who voted for him.

The Prime Minister said he was working hard at his foreign affairs duties (or some such waffle).

We, the people, deserve much, much better than we are getting.

Eric Hyland

Harwood