Mayor of London tells Cameron to ignore Davies report as former transport minister brands it 鈥榠llogical鈥
London mayor Boris Johnson made an impassioned case for an estuary airport in his keynote Conservative party conference speech.
Johnson led the charge of senior Tories today calling for prime minister David Cameron to ignore the recommendations of Howard Davies鈥 Airports Commission to build a new runway at Heathrow.
Davies recommended expansion at Heathrow after taking three years to pull together his report, with the government promising to make a decision by Christmas. A number of cabinet ministers, including Johnson, foreign secretary Philip Hammond, home secretary Theresa May and international development secretary Justine Greening, are known to be opponents of expansion there.
Johnson branded Heathrow an 鈥渆nvironmentally disastrous solution鈥 and called on Cameron not to 鈥渂odge鈥 the decision by building only one runway and putting it in 鈥渢he wrong place.鈥
Johnson has campaigned loudly against Heathrow expansion since being elected mayor, however choosing to highlight the issue in his set piece conference speech during the week鈥檚 when a decision is pending, made today鈥檚 comments significant.
Johnson鈥檚 comments were strengthened by the intervention of former junior transport minister, Tory MP Stephen Hammond, who told a fringe event at the conference that the Davies Commission report had major flaws and would not be used as the basis for the airport expansion decision. He said Davies had ignored his own initial requirement that the site for airport expansion should be able to handle capacity growth until 2050, and said there was no way Heathrow would be able to meet the environmental and noise constraints placed on it.
Hammond said: 鈥淚 think the report will be quietly pushed away by government. And whatever decision is ultimately made, this report won鈥檛 form the basis of it.鈥 Asked for his perspective from inside the department on the reaction of ministers to the contents of the report, Hammond said: 鈥淚鈥檒l just say this report won鈥檛 secure Howard Davies鈥 peerage.鈥
Speaking at the same event, Stephen Norris, a former transport minister in John Major鈥檚 government who is backing expansion at Gatwick, said Heathrow was 鈥渦nbuildable鈥, and claimed the airport had 鈥渂roken every environmental commitment its ever made.鈥 He added that David Cameron鈥檚 2009 commitment to stop Heathrow expansion 鈥渘o ifs, no buts鈥, was a substantial problem for him.
Johnson also said the construction of Crossrail 2 would allow the development of 200,000 new homes in London, and that 鈥渢hanks to the support of the prime minister and the chancellor鈥 he was confident it would be 鈥渋n the ground by the end of the next decade.鈥
Johnson added that he would 鈥渄efeat the haters of beauty鈥 and press ahead with his plan to build a 鈥淕arden Bridge鈥 across the Thames between Blackfriars and Waterloo.
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