THREAT TO NEW HEATHROW RUNWAY SPEECH IN Tories admit they lack votes to see plan through
PLANS for an £18billion expansion of Heathrow Airport could be blocked in the Commons, Government sources admitted last night.
Yesterday’s Queen’s Speech made no mention of proposals to build a new runway, which the Government backed last year.
Downing Street later said Theresa May remained committed to holding a Commons vote on the plans. But Government sources said it was unclear if they could now push it through following the loss of the Conservative majority.
The runway scheme was among numerous Tory plans to be stripped from the speech. The Prime Minister’s manifesto appeared to be in tatters as key pledges on grammar schools, fox hunting and pensions were all not mentioned.
Asked why so many campaign promises had been ditched, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told BBC Radio 4: ‘I’m not going to hide it from you that the election did not turn out exactly as we would have hoped.’
A successful prime minister would expect to use their first Queen’s Speech after an election to implement the main proposals in their manifesto. But instead, the most controversial Tory plans were dropped in a bid to get Mrs May’s legislative programme throughMrs May the had Commons. promised means-testing of the winter fuel payment, but this does not feature in the package. She also pledged to replace David Cameron’s pensions ‘triple lock’ with a ‘double lock’, but there were no measuresEnding thein the ban speechon new to grammar implement schoolsthis. also fell by the wayside. Instead, documents released alongside the speech state the Government will ‘look at all the options’ for ensuring all children go to good or outstanding schools. Promises for a vote on repealing the fox-hunting ban also did not feature in the speech.
And rather than deliver a bill to enforce an energy price cap, the speech suggests consumers could be better protected by regulators than legislation. The most controversial element of the Conservative policy package – the so-called ‘dementia tax’ – was not included either.
Some party insiders have blamed Mrs May’s failure to secure a majority on June 8 on the bruising reception given to some of the proposals.
Yesterday one unnamed Tory MP said: ‘They asked me how much of the manifesto I’d like to see in the Queen’s Speech and I said hopefully none.’
Support for Heathrow expansion in the Commons was looking tight even before the snap election.
Mrs May indicated last year that
ministers are likely to get a free vote
on the issue, following warnings that senior Johnson Cabinetand Educationministers such Secretaryas Mr Justine Greening might otherwise walk out. Tory whips have warned that as many as 40 Tory MPs could vote against the plans over concerns about noise and the environmental impact on their constituencies. Defeat over Heathrow would be a significant embarrassment for Mrs May, who made the issue a priority when she took power last year. But it would be welcomed by Mr Johnson, the favourite to succeed her, who has previously called for the project to be ‘consigned to the bin’. The Foreign Secretary has vowed to lie down ‘in front of bulldozers’ to prevent the project ever going ahead, and could now mobilise his Tory supporters to help kill it off. A senior Government source said: ‘Heathrow, like some of the counter- terrorism agenda, is one of those issues where we may struggle for numbers. It doesn’t need primary legislation, but we are committed to giving parliament a vote.’
Labour’s position on the issue is unclear. Senior figures such as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and London Mayor Sadiq Khan are opposed to the construction of a third runway.
But the party’s manifesto is silent on the issue. Privately, ministers believe Labour will now oppose expansion at Heathrow in a bid to force an embarrassing defeat on the Government.
Downing Street yesterday said that a consultation on the runway project had closed last month. Ministers are now considering the responses before making a formal recommendation to parliament, probably later this year.
A spokesman said: ‘We are fully committed to the construction of a new runway at Heathrow.’
‘We may struggle for numbers’