CAMPAIGNERS who are fighting to stop the expansion of Heathrow Airport have dismissed the Government's backing for a high speed rail link as 'cynical opportunism.'

Lord Andrew Adonis, the recently appointed transport minister, said in the Sunday Times yesterday (Sunday) the Government would be prepared to build a new rail line as well as a third runway.

The £4.5 billion Heathrow Hub station, running all the way to Scotland, is thought to have the potential to slash more than two hours off train journeys from Britain to Europe and has already been proposed by the Conservatives as an alternative to airport expansion.

However, Lord Adonis' comments indicate Labour are ready to run both projects side-by-side - which has angered HACAN Clearskies chairman John Stewart.

He said: "We support a high-speed rail scheme to Scotland. It has the potential to cut a lot of the short-haul flights using Heathrow. But having a high-speed rail scheme and a 3rd runway makes no sense at all.

"They are both competing for the same market. The Lord Adonis annpouncement is simply a cynical ploy to appease the opponents of Heathrow expansion and to try to hurt the Conservatives who said they would scrap expansion plans at Heathrow in favour of high-speed rail last autumn.

"The Government hasn't thought this through. It is simply cynical opportunism. We will not fall for it."

Meanwhile HACAN has accused the Government of trying to bury bad news after revealing the full implications of scrapping runway alternation (where the existing runways switch at 3pm daily to give noise relief to residents) were not explained during its consultation.

It claims people living many miles from the airport will be affected by the introduction of mixed mode that will allow thousands more flights to use the existing runways and says in order to find this out it is necessary to read the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) report which was not included in the consultation document.

Mr Stewart added: "There is no question that the Government was trying to bury the bad news. Mixed-mode would require the biggest change to flight paths for 60 years, but it is being done by stealth.

"Most people who will be affected have no idea what is in store for them. The Government will undoubtedly want to phase the changes in gradually but we now see quite clearly what the full effect eventually will be."

Boris Johnson, the London mayor, has announced he will hold a last-minute public debate on the runway plan on January 21 at which opponents will make a final effort to press their case.

The Government is expected to annouce whether it supports Heathrow expansion before the end of the month.