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This week the government will announce plans to expand Heathrow or Gatwick. It’s a decision that will have big implications for Wales for decades to come.

There are three great options on the table. A new northwest runway at Heathrow, a second runway at Gatwick, or an extension to one of Heathrow’s existing runways. The decision we make will be the best one for the whole country – and that includes Wales.

Wales already benefits from London airports. For example Heathrow says it currently handles £2.8bn of Welsh exports each year.

In Wales I am delighted to see passenger numbers growing at Cardiff Airport. Regional connections have an important part to play alongside our major hubs.

Only a London hub can provide multiple connections to international destinations every day.

Because Britain has delayed making a decision on airport expansion for so long, Heathrow’s two runways are now full, and it has slipped from being the world’s busiest airport in 2008 to the sixth busiest in 2016. Gatwick is also running out of runway space.

(Image: Heathrow Airport/PA Wire)

That means we have little room in which to grow

We haven’t built a new full length runway in the south-east since the Second World War and other countries have been overtaking us.

Airports in cities like Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam have lots of room in which to grow and add new routes. Since 2010, China has built or started building more than 50 new airports – including a nine-runway superhub in Beijing. When Istanbul’s new airport opens in two years’ time, it will have six runways.

By building more runway capacity in the southeast, we will be able to support Welsh exporters. And more competition on routes around the country puts downward pressure on air fares.

That’s why we will announce a runway plan that will back Britain – and Wales – for the long haul.

It will be affordable, environmentally sustainable, and a plan that the whole country can get behind.

We will also deliver it as fast as possible through a National Policy Statement. This will speed up the planning process, not slow it down as critics wrongly claimed last week. It will also allow us to get things right for local communities and the whole country.

As the Prime Minister has made absolutely clear, we are going to make a success of Brexit. That means not just taking back control from Europe, but securing our future as one of the best connected countries on earth.

By building new runway space in the south east, we will achieve that objective – and the whole of Britain will profit.