The campaign against Gatwick expansion will today suffer a heavy blow when an influential Commons committee calls on the Government to reconsider building a second runway.

Gatwick is prohibited from constructing a second runway before 2019, under an agreement signed in 1979 between BAA, then the British Airports Authority, and West Sussex County Council

But the all-party Transport Select Committee, in a report published todayMON, says delays to rival plans to expand Stansted Airport, in Essex, mean by the time they are likely to be given the go-ahead the ban on development at Gatwick is likely to have expired - and Gatwick expansion should therefore be looked at again.

While the recommendation is not binding on the Government, select committees have often taken credit for shifting Government thinking on controversial issues, and ministers will be expected to provide a formal response to the report within months.

It is notable that only one of the committee's 11 members represents a constituency in the South East - David Wilshire in Spelthorne, Surrey - with the majority representing constituencies in north England, which would be far less affected by any development.

The Committee's report, The Future of Aviation, endorses the Government's support for a third runway at Heathrow, but questions the need for a second runway at Stansted and asks ministers to reconsider whether Gatwick might prove to be a better location for expansion after 2019.