Heathrow’s third runway has won the backing of the Government but the long-running saga over the airport’s expansion rumbles on. Zac Goldsmith has quit in protest and Boris Johnson said the plans are ‘undeliverable’. So will the scheme ever see the light of day?
Hopefully not, says The Times in its editorial, which suggests Boris’s view about the likelihood of planes taking off from a third runway is ‘probably right’. The paper says the need for airport expansion in the south east is clear and that ‘a decision of sorts is better than none at all’. But it says that Heathrow isn’t the place for it. The Times says expanding Heathrow ‘is the wrong decision, and history will not thank (the PM) for it’. Its damning editorial suggests Theresa May ‘surrendered too quickly to the business lobbyists’ and that she should have opted for Gatwick – where the possibility of further expansion is much more feasible – rather than sticking with the Heathrow plan.
The Daily Mail gives Theresa May its backing for yesterday’s decision. In its editorial, the paper congratulates the PM for ‘making a decision that Messrs Blair, Brown and Cameron pathetically ducked’. Yet the paper admits the 2025 estimate for when the new runway will be ready looks optimistic and says ‘the blight of uncertainty will hang over local residents’ for years to come. Instead of listening to the naysayers though, the Mail urges the PM to take inspiration from Winston Churchill and his famous ‘ACTION THIS DAY’ rubber stamp, which it says the PM should dig out to ensure a new runway does see the light of day.
There’s more praise for Theresa May’s Government in The Sun which says the decision to back expansion at Heathrow sends an ‘important and potent message to investors and companies around the world that Brexit Britain is open for business’. The paper reckons plans for a third runway will give an economic ‘boost’ to Britain, and it points to the nervousness at Heathrow’s rival Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport to show an expansion of Britain’s biggest airport will help the UK remain an important hub for airlines. The Sun admits that there are already obstacles in the way though. It describes ‘local grouches, ambitious MPs and green loonies’ as being a barrier to the third runway becoming more than a mere pilot scheme. In response, the paper urges the likes of ‘Tory quitter Zac Goldsmith’ to get out the way of the plans for expansion.
The Guardian says there are ‘many flaws’ in the ‘short-sighted’ plan to expand Heathrow and it says a ‘determined opposition’ would be able to easily ‘unpick’ them between now and the next General Election. The suggestion seems clear though: is Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party up to the task? The paper says that at its most basic level, the decision to build a new third runway at Heathrow ‘puts old-fashioned economics firmly ahead of tackling climate change’ and says ‘this is the decision of a government that is not prepared to think boldly about the implications of its commitment to reduce carbon emissions’. The Guardian’s editorial is also scathing of some of the reasons put forward by the Government for why Heathrow was the right pick, saying that many of the thousands of new jobs that will be created will be for roles like ’baggage handlers’ and baristas’
The Independent, meanwhile, is more optimistic. It admits there are environmental concerns about the plans but says ‘the economic and business case for Heathrow was overwhelming’. The paper also pours water on Boris’s suggestion that a third runway isn’t possible, saying it was clear ‘Heathrow expansion is eminently deliverable’.
And the Daily Telegraph appears to share some of the scepticism of its former columnist Boris Johnson. In its editorial, the paper says ‘given the ill-starred history of this project’ its ‘by no means certain’ planes will ever take off from a third runway at Heathrow. The paper points out, too, that the scale of opposition is already high and says that any future Governments could easily pull the plug on the project. But, The Telegraph says, after so much dithering, Theresa May deserves some credit for making a move on Heathrow so early into her time in office- something that her predecessors failed to do.
Comments