Zac Goldsmith resigns as Richmond MP in protest over Government move to back third runway at Heathrow

Jamie Bullen25 October 2016
WEST END FINAL

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Zac Goldsmith has quit as a Conservative MP in protest at the Government's decision to back a third runway at Heathrow.

The Richmond MP tendered his resignation on Tuesday hours after the long-awaited decision was confirmed by the Cabinet, the Treasury announced.

His departure has triggered a by-election for the south-west London seat which is likely to be contested in December.

Mr Goldsmith, who stood for the Tories in the London mayoral election, has been a long-standing critic of plans to expand Heathrow and branded today's decision “catastrophic”.

In a statement tonight, he said: "Seven years ago I put myself forward as your Conservative parliamentary candidate. I promised you I would fight the threat of Heathrow expansion, which has been a sword hanging over our community for years.

Timeline: Heathrow airport

1930: Aircraft builder Richard Fairey pays £15,000 to the vicar of Harmondsworth for a 150-acre plot to build a private airport, the Great West Aerodrome.

1940: The Government takes over the whole site and requisitions extra farmland and demolishes the village of Heath Row to create RAF Heston. 

1946: London airport officially opens on the site, served by three grass runways and a tent for a terminal.

1955: The first permanent terminal building opens, and Heathrow Airport expands rapidly over the next 30 years, to four terminals. Campaigning for a third runway begins during the 1990s.

2003: Labour publishes a white paper proposing a third runway and sixth terminal. 

2008: Terminal 5 opens.

2008: David Cameron attacks Gordon Brown for “pig-headedly” backing a third runway and later pledges the Conservatives would cancel it.

2009: Labour approves a third runway, including plans to raise number of flights from 480,000 to more than 700,000 a year. Mayor Boris Johnson condemns the decision and launches campaign for Boris Island airport in the Thames Estuary. Twenty-eight Labour MPs rebel.

2010: Labour loses the general election and the Coalition promises to cancel the third runway. Protesters are ecstatic. Labour U-turns a year later and rules out a third runway.

2012: Under pressure from business leaders, Cameron and George Osborne change their minds. Amid fierce political arguments, runway opponent Justine Greening is reshuffled out of Transport and Sir Howard Davies is appointed to head the Airport Commission to recommend one site for expansion.

2015: The Davies Commission recommends a third runway at Heathrow.  Cameron puts off a Government decision repeatedly.

2016: Theresa May takes over and promises a decision before the end of October.

"I promised you if my Party won the election, the Third Runway would be scrapped. And I wasn't making it up.

"My Party Leader - the then Leader of the Opposition - made that same promise directly to us. He came here and told us; "No ifs, no buts, there will be no third runway."

"It was music to our ears. But not everyone believed him, because people assume the worst in politicians. So I followed his promise with my own. I told you that if my party changed its position, I would trigger a by-election and give you a chance to vote again.

"There was no small print. No expiry date. No ambiguity. It was a simple promise. And it mattered. I know it mattered, because the thought of Heathrow expansion fills most of my constituents with dread.

Heathrow is already the noisiest airport in Europe, by a huge margin.

"Adding a third runway will drag nearly a million people into the noise footprint.

"Heathrow is already breaking pollution limits. A third runway will add nearly 300,000 more flights, and 25m new road journeys.

"And the cost of the project will largely fall to the taxpayer. Heathrow is already the most expensive airport in the world. The surface transport costs alone - to accommodate the extra traffic - will be up to £20 billion, which we will have to pay for.

"That's why my party's promise mattered. It's why my promise mattered. And it's why so many people in our community feel so let down today.

"I want to be clear; this is not the end. The Government has chosen the most polluting, most disruptive, most expensive option. But it has also chosen the option with the least chance of being delivered. The sheer complexity, cost and legal difficulties mean it is unlikely ever to happen. It will be a millstone round this Government's neck for years.

"I love my constituency with a passion. I have lived here almost my entire life."

Within minutes of the government announcing its decision, Mr Goldsmith tweeted: “Following the Government's catastrophic Heathrow announcement, I will be meeting my constituents later today before making a statement."

He earlier told MPs: "The Government has chosen a course that is not only wrong, it's doomed.

"It is wrong because of the million people who will directly suffer on the back of the environmental harm this project unavoidably produces, and doomed because the complexities, the cost, the legal complications mean that this project is almost certainly not going to be delivered."

He also predicted Heathrow would become a "millstone around this government's neck" for years to come.

Resignation: Zac Goldsmith, leaves his house in west London, after the Government announces its decision to back a third runway at Heathrow
DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Theresa May faced a dramatic local revolt as Richmond Conservatives pledged to back him as an independent anti-Heathrow candidate should he stand in the by-election.

But the Prime Minister has avoided the embarrassment of a potential Tory defeat by allowing Mr Goldsmith a free run at the seat after it emerged there are no plans to field a party candidate.

The latest twist comes on a momentous day in the history of Heathrow.

Speaking to the Standard after the Cabinet met this morning to give the green light to expansion, the Prime Minister told the Evening Standard: “After decades of delay we are showing that we will take the big decisions when they’re the right decisions for Britain, and we will ensure they’re right for ordinary working people too.

“Airport expansion is vital for the economic future of the whole of the UK and today also provides certainty to Londoners. Businesses will know that we are building the infrastructure they need to access global markets.

"Ordinary, working people will know that my Government backs jobs and growth."

“We want the benefits of a new runway as quickly as possible, but we will also make sure London and taxpayers get a good deal.”

Sadiq Khan said he will challenge the decision in the coming months, adding a new runway at Gatwick would have boosted London's economy without the problems an expanded Heathrow would create.

His statement read: "Heathrow expansion is the wrong decision for London, and the wrong decision for the whole of Britain.

Heathrow Airport through the years - In pictures

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"The government are running roughshod over Londoners' views – just five months ago I was elected as Mayor on a clear platform of opposing a new runway at Heathrow, a position that was shared by the Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green and UKIP candidates in that election.

“A new runway at Heathrow will be devastating for air quality across London – air pollution around the airport is already above legal levels of NO2.

“Heathrow already exposes more people to aircraft noise than Paris CDG, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Munich and Madrid combined. A third runway would mean an extra 200,000 people impacted, exposing 124 more schools and 43,200 more schoolchildren to an unacceptable level of noise."

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