Tory attitude to airport expansion speaks volumes – about Labour’s remaining rebels

Last Updated: October 18, 2016By
The partial suspension of collective cabinet responsibility strongly suggests the favoured proposal will be a third runway at Heathrow [Image: Steve Parsons/PA].

The partial suspension of collective cabinet responsibility strongly suggests the favoured proposal will be a third runway at Heathrow [Image: Steve Parsons/PA].

If you’re reading the following excerpt without thinking about Labour, you’ve got the wrong message.

Yes, it’s interesting that the debate over expansion of Heathrow, or Gatwick, or the creation of a new airport in the Thames estuary, will simmer on.

But the fact that Theresa May has suspended cabinet’s joint responsibility for decisions on this pours light on the choice by Labour opponents of Jeremy Corbyn not to demand a vote on support for Heathrow expansion.

How stupid would they look now, if they had gone ahead with their vote and then discovered that the prime minister had shied away from one, in the name of party unity?

Theresa May has retreated from holding a parliamentary vote on airport expansion this autumn after the government was warned that Tory MPs could resign their seats if ministers backed a third runway at Heathrow.

Two Conservative sources said Downing Street had been warned by whips that May could face resignations and byelections in seats that could be lost to the Liberal Democrats in south-west London.

The prime minister appeared to prepare the way for a decision in favour of expansion at Heathrow on Tuesday, as she revealed cabinet responsibility would be suspended for longstanding opponents of airport expansion in west London. This would allow Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, and Justine Greening, the education secretary, to carry on voicing dissent on behalf of their constituents.

Source: May puts Heathrow vote on hold to avoid Tory resignations | UK news | The Guardian
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4 Comments

  1. Neilth October 19, 2016 at 8:07 am - Reply

    I am thoroughly fed up with this London centric discussion. The basic assumption that expanding airport capacity in the South East of England will do anything to improve the economic prospects of any other region is deeply flawed. The regions need better capacity and more flights to attract overseas investment and tourism away from the overburdened Southeast.

    Cardiff airport for example has one of the longest commercial runways which is how the biggest planes can land there and the maintenance operation is based there. Incidentally, Concord which required a very long runway I believe used to land there.

    Expansion of regional airports with the necessary improvements to infrastructure would be achievable at a fraction of the cost of the London proposals and also give some evidence that the Tories actually mean what the say when they talk about ‘Northern Powerhouses’ or improving the regions as opposed to projects like HS2 which will act like drains flushing wealth down to London.

  2. Barry Davies October 19, 2016 at 11:50 am - Reply

    The third runway will be at Heathrow no matter what anyone tries to do because that is where the airlines want it.

  3. yarmouthboy October 19, 2016 at 7:11 pm - Reply

    May is a hostage to fortune within her own Party! Damned if she does. Damned if she doesn’t. Real Govt is in a state of paralysis.

  4. mohandeer October 20, 2016 at 2:50 pm - Reply

    “How stupid would they look now, if they had gone ahead with their vote and then discovered that the prime minister had shied away from one, in the name of party unity?”
    Oh, about as stupid as they really are. These Contrary Mary’s are really just a bunch of elitists whose only real policy – is getting Jeremy Corbyn out.

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