Johnson issues veiled warning to May over Heathrow runway vote
Airport expansion due to be formally adopted, but Foreign Secretary says his position ‘has not changed’
CONTROVERSIAL plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport are expected to be signed off by ministers today, triggering a potentially bruising battle to get the scheme through Parliament.
Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, is expected to make a statement in the Commons to adopt formally the expansion as Government policy on raising airport capacity for the capital.
However, Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, has issued a veiled warning to No 10 that he could be forced to resign if Theresa May orders Tory MPS to back the third runway.
The plan has been bitterly opposed by residents whose homes will be bulldozed to make way for the runway as well as those living under flight paths. Mr Johnson, a former mayor of London whose Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency is one of the closest to the airport, campaigned locally against the plan and has made it clear that he could not vote for it in the Commons.
Mrs May has not yet made a final decision on whether the vote will be the subject of a three-line party whip, but Government sources made it clear that such major infrastructure projects always have been in the past, putting the Prime Minister on a collision course with Mr Johnson.
The plan must be signed off by a Cabinet sub-committee and then full Cabinet this morning before Mr Grayling can ask for the Speaker’s permission to make an announcement.
Although ministers have previously indicated there would be a free vote, cross-party support for the Heathrow plan has waned in recent months as Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn and John Mcdonnell – in whose constituency Heathrow is situated – have toughened the criteria to gain their support. Heathrow expansion was a Conservative manifesto commitment at the general election, but Mrs May is now relying on support from the DUP and potentially the SNP to carry the vote.
Allowing a free vote would leave open the possibility that Labour might try to defeat the Government, hence consideration of a whipped vote.
Mr Johnson has long believed a third runway would be a “disaster” as well as being “barbarically contemptuous of the rights of the population” by putting their health at risk.
As London’s mayor, Mr Johnson came up with a plan for a new airport in the Thames Estuary, dubbed “Boris Island”. A source close to him said: “His position on Heathrow has not changed.”
Cabinet members who refuse to vote with the Government while under a three-line party whip are expected to resign. One possible compromise under discussion is that those MPS with constituency interests may be given permission to abstain or dissent.