Theresa May will have enough parliamentary support to approve plans for a third runway at Heathrow, should she put it to a vote, the Conservative Party chairman has said.
Patrick McLoughlin is said to have calculated support for the Heathrow plan, and sources quoted by the Financial Times stated a vote would be a “slam dunk” in favor of Heathrow expansion.
After meeting with her aviation subcommittee, Financial Times sources have said May will put the decision to an open vote in the House of Commons, a move that would prevent dissenting members from splitting the cabinet by voicing their opposition.
If May does put Heathrow expansion to a vote and is driven through as McLoughlin predicts, the decision will end over a decade of uncertainty from both Conservative and Labour governments over whether to expand at Heathrow or Gatwick, its smaller rival airport.
The referendum would expand Heathrow by either adding a third new runway or expanding its existing northern runway. The £13-18 billion project wouldn’t be completed until 2029, but would enable up to 260,000 new flights each year from Heathrow. The additional flights are sorely needed in southern England; businesses have been clamoring for expansion for years, and there are fears that both businesses and airlines will move elsewhere if these transportation needs are not met.
Despite the need for airport expansion and its predicted success in Parliament, support for a new Heathrow runway is not universal. London mayor Sadiq Khan opposes the plan on grounds of noise and pollution increases, while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson simply believes the plan is too costly and will not be finished. Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways parent company International Airlines Group, also opposes the plan on grounds of cost, and has even threatened to move BA’s operations out of the UK if the plan goes through.
The matter will come to a head when May meets with her cabinet subcommittee on aviation on either October 11 or 18. If the subcommittee puts the decision to parliament as expected, the vote should take place later that month.
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