The Liberal Democrat party has backed calls to expand airports outside London instead of building runways at Heathrow or Gatwick.

The proposals were passed at the party’s conference in Brighton this weekend and come just weeks after it was revealed North Oxfordshire could be a potential airport site.

Lib Dem Parliamentary Party Committee on Transport co-chairman Julian Huppert said: “Britain has to get the right balance between our need for international connectivity and the environmental threats we face.”