Farage alleges Heathrow closure reason is concealed

Nigel Farage has claimed that the real reason for the recent closure of Heathrow Airport is being hidden from the public. The airport, which is the busiest in the UK, was shut down for a day due to a power failure affecting about 200,000 passengers. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to answer questions about the incident in the House of Commons. Farage, the leader of Reform UK, stated on social media that Heathrow’s failure to operate was due to the removal of diesel generators as part of a push for net-zero emissions. He compared Heathrow to Dubai Airport, which has backup power systems that allow flights to continue during outages. He believes the government is not being honest about the situation. The power outage occurred after a fire damaged an electricity substation in Hayes, near Heathrow. Initial reports suggested that the airport could not operate without sufficient power. However, National Grid's CEO John Pettigrew stated that there was enough power available from other substations to keep the airport running. Pettigrew described the transformer failure as unusual but emphasized that it did not mean Heathrow lacked capacity. A Heathrow spokesman supported this, explaining that the scale of the disruption required a careful shutdown and restart of hundreds of critical systems. In response to the incident, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has ordered an urgent investigation into the power outage. The National Energy System Operator will lead this inquiry, with findings expected in about six weeks. The London Fire Brigade is also looking into the fire itself, while Heathrow Airport will conduct its own review of how it managed the crisis. Heathrow has stated that its goal was to reopen safely and efficiently after the incident and commended the emergency services and its staff for their effort in resuming operations. Over the weekend, the airport completed over 2,500 flights, serving more than 400,000 passengers.