Mayor Boris Johnson Urges Cameron To Abandon Heathrow Expansion

Mayor Boris Johnson urges Cameron to abandon Heathrow expansion

Written on:September 5, 2023

Mayor Boris Johnson prefers a new London Airport instead of Heathrow’s expansion

Mayor Boris Johnson has expressed his unhappiness because of PM David Cameron’s refusal to cancel the idea of Heathrow airport’s expansion. Johnson wants Cameron to permanently annul the idea of construction of a third runway at Heathrow airport.

Cameron had pledged previously in his manifesto that he would not permit the Heathrow airport to be expanded before the next UK general election in 2015. Cameron has, however, uttered at the PM’s Questions that he deemed that a type of assessment was essential that will bring political parties together and enable them to judge airport capacity.

Thus, UK ministers will establish an inter-party committee that will evaluate airport capacity in south-eastern England. This committee’s installation is likely to postpone any resolution on Heathrow’s enlargement until after the 2015 general election. The inter-party review committee will be set up after discussions with the oppositional Labour Party.

Johnson has announced that the removal of Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, by Cameron in his portfolio reshuffle will enable Cameron to overturn his vow. With the Transport Secretaryship headed now by Patrick McLoughlin, Johnson fears that Cameron may suddenly endorse Heathrow’s enlargement. Most Conservatives, anyway, expect Cameron to endorse a third runway at Heathrow after 2015′s general election.

West London’s Conservatives, captained by the outspoken Johnson, have sternly urged Cameron to not go ahead with Heathrow’s third runway. Johnson has passionately championed the cause of a fresh airport in eastern London. Johnson believes that the Prime Ministerial refusal to abandon the concept of Heathrow’s expansion is going to prevent financiers from financing Johnson’s favoured project of a new airport altogether.

Johnson has expressed to BBC Radio 4 that the inter-party review is an excuse for delaying a decision on this issue. Johnson also said that his mandate is to advance, protect, and respect the wishes of Londoners, who gave him London’s Mayoralty by electing him. As per him, he was chosen to oppose the legendary Heathrow’s third runway.

Johnson and Cameron are magnetic Conservative leaders, with some UK political analysts believing that Johnson will be a competitor against Cameron for the Conservatives’ leadership.