LIBERAL Democrat activists yesterday rejected proposals to open up party policy to allowing the development of new runways away from Heathrow, despite backing for the idea from high profile figures.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey had earlier said he would vote for the amendment, proposed by Solihull MP Lorely Burt, to the Liberal Democrats’ pre-manifesto policy paper.

But activists at the party conference in Glasgow rejected the amendment by a wide margin, with a count of votes not required.

At the end of the debate Duncan Brack, the deputy chairman of the manifesto working group, urged activists to reject the proposal — which had been proposed and seconded by high-profile MPs.

He said: “If you expand airport capacity, as amendment four calls for, the number of aircraft, the number of flights, the amount of emissions, will all increase — it isn’t complicated.”