Labour drops support for third runway at Heathrow
THE LABOUR Party has dropped its support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, all but sounding the death knell for the controversial expansion.
Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said “the local environmental impact means that this is off the agenda” during a conference in London.
The coalition government dropped Labour’s plans to expand the UK’s busiest airport shortly after coming into power last year.
The airport is already close to full capacity, and businesses have complained that stunting its growth is harming London’s competitiveness.
The political consensus about Heathrow does not rule out a possible new airport in the south east of England. London Mayor Boris Johnson has proposed an airport in the Thames Estuary in Kent to help take some of the traffic from the London airports.