Heathrow Airport expansion in doubt after Theresa May promotes critics to top cabinet posts
A 3rd Heathrow runway appears increasingly unlikely after Theresa May appointed to her Cabinet a series of opponents to it. Justine Greening, the new Education Secretary, has said building another runway at Heathrow is not a “smart decision” while Philip Hammond and Boris Johnson have also been opposed. Chris Grayling, who is now the Transport Secretary, replacing Patrick McLoughlin,has voiced few public opinions on airport expansion in recent years – though probably privately backed Heathrow in 2009. He will now help oversee the decision on whether Heathrow or Gatwick is chosen for expansion. Whether the option of not choosing either, which would be the sensible decision, is also being reconsidered is not known. Both David Cameron and George Osborne were keen on a Heathrow runway – indeed it was likely that a decision to approve it would have been taken days after a “Remain” vote in the EU Referendum – are now both just backbenchers. Boris Johnson, who has said he would “lie down in front of the bulldozers” if Heathrow built a runway, would face calls to resign if he remained in a Cabinet that backed the project. Philip Hammond, the new Chancellor, said last year: “London’s role as an international air transport hub can be maintained without additional runways at Heathrow. A second runway at Gatwick, plus enhanced transport links between the airports and better transport links to London will create a ‘virtual’ hub airport, maintaining Heathrow’s role in the local economy without expanding it.”
.
Tweet
Heathrow Airport expansion in doubt after Theresa May promotes critics to top cabinet posts
By Ben Riley-Smith, political correspondent (Telegraph)
14 JULY 2016
.
Expansion of Heathrow Airport appears increasingly unlikely after Theresa May appointed to her Cabinet a series of opponents to a third runway.
Justine Greening, the new Education Secretary, has said building another runway at Heathrow is not a “smart decision” while Philip Hammond and Boris Johnson have also been opposed.
Chris Grayling, who was named Transport Secretary, has voiced few public opinions on airport expansion in recent years – though was reported to have privately backed Heathrow in 2009.
He will now help oversee the decision on whether Heathrow or Gatwick is chosen for expansion after years of delay under David Cameron.
Mr Grayling, who was Commons Leader before the promotion, will also have to ensure High Speed Two (HS2) is rolled out over the coming years, despite criticism in some Tory heartlands.
Mr Cameron had said a decision on airport expansions in the South East would be taken this summer after a series of delays, but the timetable is now unclear after a change in leadership.
The former prime minister and George Osborne, the former chancellor, were said to be supportive of the Heathrow bid but have now returned to the backbenches.
However critics of Heathrow have now been handed some of the most senior roles in government by Mrs May, raising questions about whether the airport will be chosen.
Boris Johnson, the new Foreign Secretary, repeatedly campaigned against expansion during his eight years as London Mayor and would face calls to resign if he remained in a cabinet that backed the project.
When asked about a third Heathrow runway last year, Mr Hammond, the new Chancellor, said: “London’s role as an international air transport hub can be maintained without additional runways at Heathrow.
“A second runway at Gatwick, plus enhanced transport links between the airports and better transport links to London will create a ‘virtual’ hub airport, maintaining Heathrow’s role in the local economy without expanding it.”
John Stewart, the chair of the campaign against Heathrow expansion, also claimed Mrs May had attended a meeting and criticised the project in 2008.
“I will continue to put pressure on the Government over the third runway at Heathrow as an extra 222,0000 flights a year would undermine our national targets and seriously damage the health of the local community,” she said at the time, according to Mr Stewart.
Ms Greening spoke out against Heathrow as recently as March, when she told The Telegraph: “I don’t believe that this government will proceed with a third runway decision. I just don’t think it is a smart decision.
“Trying to expand Heathrow is like trying to build an eight bedroom mansion on the site of a terraced house. It is a hub airport that is just simply in the wrong place.”
She added: “The sooner that we can move onto working out a long term airport strategy for Britain the better.”
.
Nick Hurd is the UK’s new minister for climate change, the government announced on Thursday.
A former minister in the Department for International Development, Hurd is a member of the Conservative Environment Network and is widely regarded as one of the party’s greener MPs. The role will likely see Hurd represent the UK at international climate talks alongside the country’s new energy chief Greg Clark. http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/07/21/uk-appoints-nick-hurd-as-new-climate-change-minister/
.
Nick Hurd is a supporter of the Conservative Environment Network http://cen.uk.com/our-people/
.