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Karl Turner, shadow transport minister, says the government "could and they should have improved this document" but MPs are being asked to vote this through, and any concerns will be handled in the future.

He says Labour have always had four internal tests for the Airports National Policy Statement, and the government is not providing MPs the opportunity to see a report on aviation emissions before voting.

The government have still not supplied details on how the landing slots will be used for domestic routes, he adds, given that the airlines hold the slots, and not the airport itself.

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Labour's Catherine McKinnell, who is co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on regional airports, and also has Newcastle Airport in her constituency, says that delivering aviation capacity is one of the biggest issues that the UK faces.

Where the UK builds new airport capacity has implications for the whole of the UK, including the north east, she says.

She says she believes that this is the right decision.

Several sources suggest the foreign secretary's much-criticised trip to Afghanistan is about more UK forces.

Opposition MPs mock the foreign secretary for missing the airport expansion vote for an Afghan trip.

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Labour's Mike Gapes says that the Labour Party is in this "strange position" of giving a free vote, even though back in 2009 then prime minister Gordon Brown encouraged his own Labour MPs to vote for a third runway.

He says it was the right decision then and remains the right decision now.

He asks why the government wasted "nearly nine years" on this decision and encourages MPs to approve the vote now.

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The most outspoken opponent of the third runway is Boris Johnson, MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip and the foreign secretary.

Famously, he once vowed to lie down in front of the bulldozers if plans went ahead.

And yet, he will be conspicuously absent for today’s vote – allowing him not to break his promise never to vote for expansion without forcing him to resign.

So where is he?

Mr Johnson is meeting senior government figures, including President Ghani, in Afghanistan.

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Labour's Anna Turley says that a bigger Heathrow will be a "driver" for growth across the country.

She says that steel in her constituency of Redcar would be used during the construction of the new runway.

Her local airport in Durham Tees Valley would potentially see an internal flight to Heathrow under airline plans, she says.

"For too long as a country we have been putting off this decision," she finishes.

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Conservative Zac Goldsmith says thousands of homes will be destroyed and families will be displaced as a result of this third runway.

The only reason why MPs would sign off these costs is if they believe there is wider economic benefit.

He says that the bosses at Heathrow must be "laughing" when they announce that there will be an additional 250,000 flights into the airport without there being additional cars on the road as a result.

He warns that there is a "massive legal challenge" waiting if approval is granted. "In every metric, by every analysis, Gatwick and Heathrow deliver the same."

He accuses Chris Grayling of "misleading the House" over the vote.

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Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Vince Cable says that those who will suffer the greatest hardship will be under the existing flightpath.

"We don't know the future flightpaths," or whether the government will legislate to neutralise issues, he says.

"This is an exceedingly dodgy company by any reckoning," he adds that it is extracting "monopoly rent" over existing holdings and car parks, it has a "terrible" balance sheet position and has "doubled its debt".

The company has no competence in managing such a risky project, he adds.

It will be a combination of taxpayers and customers who will pay for this, he states, criticising further confusion over who will pay for the infrastructure beyond the perimeter fence.

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Conservative Phillip Lee says that he is staying true to his word in that adding additional capacity to an airport in the south east will be beneficial to his constituents.

He adds that the government needs to take the concerns over noise, fossil fuels and the fact that the way the global economy works currently is not sustainable. All travel involves carbon dioxide being released into the air, he states.

He says that the country voted to leave the EU, so an additional runway is now going to become more necessary.

"The future is fast data not fast people," he states. The UK "needs to get real about its long-term strategy," he finishes.

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John McDonnell says his constituents find this debate "heartbreaking" and tells the House this is a "defining" vote tonight.

Labour's shadow chancellor - who is MP for Hayes and Hartlington - asks if we will tackle the "grotesque" inequalities of investment geographically in this country? He answers: "No we won't."

Mr McDonnell says this runway will hold back growth in regional airports, road and rail.

He asks if the House will stand up for working class communities or hold up interests of a "corporate cartel" that have "ripped us off" for decades.

He claims 4,000 homes will go and calls the eviction: the 'biggest' forced movement of human beings since the Highland clearances. He adds that you "cannot compensate" for the loss of a community.

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Conservative Justine Greening says this is a vote which will affect "all our communities in one way or another".

She says that this is a situation of broken promises, broken politics and broken economics, she adds that Heathrow does not stick to current respite rules on early morning flights.

There is no formal safety review even though the crash risk will increase by 60% in a densely populated area, she adds.

She adds that consultations are "never, I repeat, never, listened to".

She says that the government has managed to pick the riskiest project, the one that requires the most amount of money from taxpayers and the one that has the worst safety implications.

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Labour's Lilian Greenwood tells the house that "fast", "reliable" and "affordable" transport has the power to change lives. The chair of the transport committee says that improved connectivity is "key" to success in a post-Brexit world.

The committee agrees that the additional runway is the "right answer" in principal to aviation capacity challenge; however, she adds there was a "very real possibility" that domestic routes will not be commercially viable. She criticises the government on a lack of protections against climate change, air pollution and noise.

She tells the House that the government has not limited the possibility of legal challenge.

Ms Greenwood says that not enough committee recommendations were incorporated into the motion and she cannot vote in favour.

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Officially, Labour is against the government’s current plans. Tory MPs are under a three line whip to back expansion. But both parties are split.

Labour says it would support a plan for a third runway if it fulfilled tests on the environment, noise and regional equality, but will not back the government’s proposal.

However, it is allowing a free vote so that MPs can vote how they like, and up to 40 are expected to vote with the government. They say they cannot vote against a plan to create thousands of jobs – especially as the party’s trade union backers are in favour.

The Conservatives are divided too. MPs with west London constituencies have promised their voters they will oppose the plans, and Greg Hands has resigned as a minister in order to vote against the government.

However, with the Tory’s three line whip and Labour’s 40 proponents, the plans are expected to get the green light.

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The SNP's transport spokesperson Alan Brown says for "too long" successive UK governments have not invested enough directly in infrastructure. He says the transport secretary has ""come up short" on protection of slots for domestic flights.

The MP takes an intervention from Chris Grayling, who asks Mr Brown to confirm that Heathrow airport have set aside 200 slots for connections to Scotland.

He replies only the UK government can provide the guarantees and protection.

Mr Brown says expansion at Heathrow Airport should not compromise climate change targets.

Mr Brown finishes his speech, saying he cannot vote with the government without guarantees but will not vote against.

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Former trade minister Greg Hands tells the House he hasn't "resigned willingly" from the government.

He says he was "surprised" to have to resign because he thought there would be a free vote on the issue.

Mr Hands reads the pledge he made in the 2017 general election to vote against a third run way for Heathrow.

He says there are three reasons for his stance against the airport: the impact on the environment in an urban setting; the need for a large hub airport and if it is in the nation's interest and finally the need to remove night flights - a "wholly unnecessary stain" on the livability of Londoners.

The former minister criticises that that the future flight paths were not part of the consultation, saying that many were unaware that they would be flights overhead every 90 seconds.

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Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald says that the UK's aerospace and aviation industries are "world leaders" and support nearly a million jobs.

He quotes a statement: that those who vote in favour of a third runway at Heathrow can never take the government seriously on the environment; saying these are not his words, but the words of the prime minister during a debate 10 years ago.

He says it has "not been a great year for the British transport system so far" and accuses the government of having an "it'll be alright on the night approach to Brexit".

Expansion of this hub airport should be good news, but in this case, he says, it isn't, as there are gaps in the plans.

He accuses Mr Grayling are not putting all the facts before Parliament. He says that this debate is being scheduled before a climate change report is due to be published at the end of the week, holding Parliament and the environment in "contempt".

"Global warming is the single most important issue facing this world yet members of this house are being asked to vote...without the full set of facts," he says.

He states that Mr Grayling has a "scorched earth" attitude to transport in the UK, and has "consistently demonstrate[d] poor judgement".

The north west runway is too costly and may be illegal, he states.