Kemi Badenoch cuts ribbon at new Stansted Airport building

Kemi Badenoch posed with a giant pair of scissors as she officially opened a new domestic arrivals building.

The MP for north west Essex wielded the more than two-foot long snippers together with airport managing director Gareth Powell.

Smiles - The building is now officially open (Image: Chris Radburn/PA Wire) Work on the £1.1billion transformation of Stansted will continue over the next three to four years.

Construction of the new domestic arrivals building was part of the initial work.

The work will include a £600million extension to the main terminal, increasing its size by 40 per cent.

During her visit, Mrs Badenoch met staff from the operations ground team near the runway, and security and customer services staff inside the new building.

She told staff the airport, which is in her constituency, was “critical” to the community and beyond, and important for employment and the economy.

She said: “As the MP I tend to get the complaints about the airport.

A lot of people do just think about it in terms of the impact on their life.

“But actually I have to balance it with all of the positive benefits it’s having elsewhere.

“And the people who get a positive thing from the airport rarely say anything at all.

“Those people who work there, use it for business, for holidays, all of those – the jobs that it creates, rarely talk about the airport.

“People who have a negative experience of it are very vocal which can sometimes influence the perception of the airport.

“So as the MP I have to make sure I stay very balanced.

“I support people when they have issues with noise, night flights and traffic congestion.

“But I always tell the story of how when Covid hit and so many people lost their jobs, all of those people turned up in my surgeries.

“It really showed just how critical the airport was, how important it was for the community and well beyond.”