Ban middle class from city breaks, says Mayor's aide

The Mayor's chief environmental adviser Charles Secrett said there should be curbs on all "aspirational" air travel such as journeys to second homes or visiting relatives.

Mr Secrett told a Greenpeace fringe meeting at the Labour conference that the rationing of such flights was "essential" if carbon emissions were to be limited.

His proposals provoked a damning response from the flying lobby, which claimed it would be a "suicide pill" for Mr Livingstone in next year's mayoral election.

The Mayor has already called for a moratorium on new airports and is opposed to the expansion of Heathrow.

But Mr Secrett went further, saying it was time to limit the number of short-haul flights taken for leisure purposes.

He said leisure accounted for 80 per cent of all flights from Britain, while ABC1s - the top social groups - were responsible for 70 per cent of flights.

"We cannot afford aspirational use," he said. "The problem we have is there's no low-carbon breakthrough on the horizon as far as air travel is concerned.

"When you combine that with the fact we are already committed to exceeding the two degrees centigrade threshold which leads to dangerous climate change, we have to recognise that no industry can be exempt from taking a climate- and carbon-responsible perspective. Aviation cannot be treated as a special case.

"If there are no clean fuels on the horizon - and there aren't - it means curbing flights. The key is to cut frivolous flights and maintain essential air travel, both long-haul business and long-haul tourism."

Asked to define what he meant by "frivolous", he said: "When we are talking about frivolous, we are talking about excessive ABC1s taking short- and medium-haul flights. For long-haul flights that's not frivolous."

He added: "The reality is all of us are in the same boat. We all have to curb what we would otherwise like to do, and that will mean rationing.

"We won't be able to visit our relatives or visit the third home as we wish until there's clean fuel."

Mr Secrett denied his plans would penalise low earners who have only recently been able to afford to fly abroad. He suggested that the tax on flights could be lowered for poor families.

Former Labour minister Brian Wilson, who represents the lobby group Flying Matters, said the plans were "deeply offensive". "I have never heard of a bigger suicide pill politically than curbing 'frivolous' flights. That sort of talk is deeply offensive."