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I was delighted to join nearly 100 Easyjet cabin crew at a demonstration in Luton this morning, urging Luton Borough Council to rethink the current level of airport charges.  For bbc coverage and video of the demo, click here.

The Easyjet workers and peacefully walked through the centre of town shouting "cut costs, save our jobs" and handed in a letter to Labour Council leader Hazel Simmonds appearling for a more flexible attitude on landing -fees in these difficult economic times.

Choosing where to locate planes and airport crews is an open market.  Easyjet and all airline operators have a choice of airports and can quite easily pick up sticks and move planes and crews to other airports if high charges are jeopardising route profitability.

The issue is of concern to all Lutonians because the council gets a share of the revenue from every passenger that goes through the airport, which in turn is used to subsidise local council tax. 

It is in the interests of neither the council nor local residents to see flights go elsewhere, passenger volumes decline, and revenues disappear.

The council may think they are acting in the best interests of the town by refusing to budge on price, but the result of that inflexibility is flights, crews and revenues going elsewhere.  We need to remember that a smaller percentage of something is better than 100% of nothing.

In the interests of all Lutonians, I appeal to the council to redo the maths and rethink their position.

Given that our current MP, Margaret Moran, is not working at the moment and has said nothing about this issue, I want to assure Luton workers that they can rely on at least one local politician- me - to be standing shoulder to shoulder with them whenever it comes to safeguarding and saving local jobs.