Boris Johnson says David Cameron will not approve 3rd Heathrow runway

Boris Johnson has warned that a 3rd Heathrow runway would lead to “paralysis” and insisted that the government will not approve it. He will “counsel” David Cameron “very strongly” against it. He said David Cameron and George Osborne pledged that there would be no Heathrow 3rd runway in the Conservative Party manifesto in 2010. “I think that the government will stick to that.”  David Cameron had said, in election literature: “No ifs, No buts, no third runway.” Boris will be free to campaign against a Heathrow runway, after the Commission reports, as he is not a member of the full Conservative cabinet. He said during LBC’s State of London debate: “It is perfectly obvious to me that there is going to be an unholy mess when Sir Howard reports. …They will plonk this great document on our desk. I will study the document with great care and I will reflect for about 40 seconds. If it comes out very firmly in favour of Heathrow I think that will lead to paralysis.” He did not say Gatwick should get a runway, as he has stated in the past that it could only be a “compromise.” Boris commented that he believes Stansted would be a better option.
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Boris Johnson says David Cameron will not approve third Heathrow runway

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, says he thinks David Cameron and George Osborne will stand by previous pledge not to build third runway at Heathrow

By Steven Swinford, Deputy Political Editor (Telegraph)

23 June 2015

Boris Johnson has warned that a third runway at Heathrow airport will lead to “paralysis” and insisted that the government will not approve it.

Sir Howard Davies, the chairman of the UK Airports Commission, will next month publish a flagship report into airport capacity in the South East.

Mr Johnson said that he will “counsel” David Cameron “very strongly” against building a third runway at Heathrow.

He said that Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne pledged that there would be no third runway in the Conservative Party manifesto in 2010. “I think that the government will stick to that,” he said.

Mr Johnson will be free to campaign against a third runway at Heathrow in the wake of Sir Howard’s report as he is not a member of the full Conservative cabinet.

He said during LBC’s State of London debate: “It is perfectly obvious to me that there is going to be an unholy mess when Sir Howard reports.

“It’s going to happen fairly soon, within the next few weeks. They will plonk this great document on our desk.

“I will study the document with great care and I will reflect for about 40 seconds. If it comes out very firmly in favour of Heathrow I think that will lead to paralysis.”

He added that a third runway would lead to a significant rise in the levels of noise and pollution.

He said: “I would counsel him [David Cameron] very strongly against it. David Cameron, George Osborne and I made a very clear manifesto commitment – no ifs, no buts there wouldn’t be a third runway at Heathrow. I think the government will stick to that. ” He said he believes Stansted airport in Essex would be a better option.

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Actual text from Conservative election leaflet for the May 2010 election.   Full leaflet

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See also:

Gatwick Tory MPs warn of ‘political stitch-up’ on runways by anti-Heathrow faction in Cabinet

June 6, 2015

A group of senior Conservative MPs has warned David Cameron that he must avoid a “political stitch-up” that would favour cabinet ministers, and other party heavyweights led by Boris Johnson, who are campaigning against a Heathrow 3rd runway. Crispin Blunt, the former justice minister who chairs the 9-strong group of Tory MPs representing constituencies around Gatwick, told the Tory chief whip, Mark Harper, this week that cabinet ministers opposed to a third runway at Heathrow airport should “recuse” themselves [ie. not take part in a decision, due to danger of a potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality] when the government considers the Airports Commission’s findings. The decision by the government must be taken in an impartial manner. The Gatwick area MPs are concerned that as well as Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith, both keenly against a Heathrow runway, in Cabinet there are also Justine Greening, Theresa May and Philip Hammond, who are openly against a Heathrow runway. The Gatwick MPs are concerned about a political stitch-up on the runway decision. They do not believe a runway at Gatwick is in the national interest.

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Support for new Gatwick runway fading, says Boris Johnson

JOE MURPHY, POLITICAL EDITOR (Evening Standard)

22.12.2014

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Boris Johnson believes the chance of a political deal for a second runway at Gatwick is fading, leaving attempts to solve the South-East aviation capacity crisis in potential deadlock.

The Mayor has told friends that he thinks political splits will block expansion at Gatwick or Heathrow, regardless of the official recommendation due next year from Sir Howard Davies’s Airports Commission.

“I was told earlier there was this big political consensus emerging around Gatwick, but now I’m not sure it will happen,” Mr Johnson is understood to have said.

His remark will pile pressure on Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats to rethink their stance on airports. Mr Clegg planned to endorse Gatwick in a compromise designed to meet business demand for more flights, while continuing to oppose a third runway at Heathrow. But his scheme was blocked when Lib-Dems staged a rebellion at the party conference in October and voted against any new runways in the South-East.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, whose Twickenham constituency is on the Heathrow flight path, is said to be deeply unhappy with the vote, fearing it lacks credibility with business and could increase the likelihood of a third runway at Heathrow.

Mr Johnson’s own preferred option is a new four-runway hub airport in the Thames Estuary, but that has been rejected as too costly by the Davies Commission. The Mayor then shifted behind Gatwick expansion as a temporary compromise.

Last month, the Standard revealed he had held private talks with Gatwick bosses, and in an interview with the Standard in July he described a second Gatwick runway as “a compromise”.

Mr Johnson plans to campaign for his Estuary plan if, as expected, he is elected as a Conservative MP in May. He also intends to champion infrastructure projects and tackling low pay.

He wants a big increase in the “measly and pathetic” compensation paid to people whose homes are blighted by schemes such HS2.

Mr Johnson, who has been mooted at an infrastructure secretary, thinks the Government should buy homes outright, selling them when disruptive construction work is completed and property values return to normal.

He also wants to encourage firms to pay the £8.80 London rate of the Living Wage, with one idea cutting business rates for those that pay it. “It should be front and centre of our programme,” the Mayor has argued privately.

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