I was showered in champagne as jubilant Stop Stansted campaigners celebrated the demise of the second runway. Such a waste!

A big crowd gathered for the cameras outside the unofficial campaign headquarters, the Three Horseshoes pub at Mole Hill Green at lunchtime today.

I read the following message of support from Norman Baker MP, the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, who visited the area in March 2009.

“I am delighted that one of the first acts of the coalition government was to rule out any further runways at Stansted, and that this has now led to BAA withdrawing their planning application.

“As the then Lib Dem Shadow Transport Secretary, I visited Stansted and made clear to local people the Lib Dems’ opposition to further runway capacity at the airport. It is a sign of the value of the coalition government that we have acted so quickly on this issue. It has taken less than three weeks for the new Lib Dem-Conservative arrangements to bear fruit for the people in the Stansted area.”

“I would like to congratulate Stop Stansted Expansion for running such a good campaign and for keeping the issue in the headlines for the past eight years.”

I dug out the campaigning T-shirt worn at a council-run demonstration at Westminster against the second runway. Then it read “No! Minister”. Today I adapted it to say “Yes! Minister”! For once we agree with government aviation policy.