Another leading Tory is backing proposals to replace Heathrow Airport with a giant island version in the mouth of the Thames Estuary, the UK’s second most popular yachting area.

Bernard Jenkin is backing London’s Tory mayor Boris Johnson’s plan tasking Hong Kong airport chief engineer Doug Oakervee to make a feasibility study of a new four-runway, 24-hour airport off the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

Jenkin, whose constituency is North Essex, claims such a huge construction job would ‘re-energise’ the economy of south Essex. But a south Essex-based UKIP MP , Bob Spink whose Castle Point constituency is in south Essex, said:’They are putting our environment and the quality of life of people in south Essex at great risk. They are more interested in helping big business and developers to make a buck, than protecting ordinary people.’

See Dick Durham’s blog: Here