CONSERVATIVES OFFER LIMITED SUPPORT FOR HEATHROW
PRESS RELEASE
24 November 2019
For immediate use
CONSERVATIVES OFFER LIMITED SUPPORT FOR HEATHROW
The Conservative Party offered Heathrow Expansion very limited support in its manifesto, despite previously being a flagship policy of the party.
Their manifesto, launched on 24 November, states that “Parliament has voted in principle to support a third runway at Heathrow, but it is a private sector project. It is for Heathrow to demonstrate that it can meet its air quality and noise obligations, that the project can be financed and built and that the business case is realistic. The scheme will receive no new public money” (1).
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also standing for re-election for nearby Uxbridge & South Ruislip, stated as recently as last month that “it remains the case that I have lively doubts about the ability of the promoters of that scheme, as I think he does, to meet standards on air quality and noise emissions, and we will have to see how the courts adjudicate in that matter” (2).
This is in stark contrast to their 2017 manifesto that referred to their party’s “programme of strategic national investments, including. the expansion of Heathrow Airport” (3).
Geraldine Nicholson from campaign Stop Heathrow Expansion, commented:
“This is not the endorsement that Heathrow would have wanted from a party that pushed through the proposals as recently as last year.
“Heathrow Airport Limited need to demonstrate to local people – as well as the Government – that they can actually meet pollution targets now, rather than their promises to meet them being dependent on a third runway. Otherwise the only occupant of any new runway will be tumbleweed, not planes.”
ENDS.
Notes:
Conservative Manifesto 2019, p. 28
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister’s Questions, 23 October 2019, Column 970 https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-10-23/debates/D3DCA636-3FA8-41A2-9EDB-E32E12970166/Engagements#contribution-0289E231-3C77-414A-A4EA-59D57DB7F63E
Conservative Manifesto 2017, p. 26