Thursday 30 October 2008

Gordon Brown faces yet another major rebellion - Heathrow.

It looks like Gordon Brown may be forced to adopt another Conservative policy in the face of the latest Labour party rebellion. Labour MP John Grogan has put forward a motion to rethink the Heathrow expansion. So far 95 MPs have signed up to the motion, 38 of them are Labour MPs. According to Pippa Crerar of the Evening Standard:
"Ministers were said to be secretly fuelling a Commons rebellion against expansion (of Heathrow) with at least five Cabinet ministers, including Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, thought to have concerns."
The Tory plan to scrap the third runway at Heathrow was announced during this year's Conservative conference. Shadow transport secretary, Theresa Villiers, told delegates:
"This is one of the hardest decisions we've faced as a party and we will not run away from it. "The case for high-speed rail is clear. "It would generate huge economic benefits, it would dramatically improve transport links between north and south and it would give a vitally important boost to our efforts to protect future generations from catastrophic climate change. "I believe that this announcement signals a momentous step forward for Britain's transport infrastructure. "It will leave a lasting legacy for the future. And it will lay the foundations for a high speed network that I believe will one day stretch across the country."
At the time of the Conference, Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, Said:
"These proposals are politically opportunistic, economically illiterate and hugely damaging to Britain's national interests. The Tories are posing a false choice - we need both more capacity in Britain's airports and on our main rail lines."
It looks very much like Gordon Brown will be manoeuvred into backing down on the Third runway at Heathrow and end up supporting a new high speed rail link as suggested by the Conservative party. Will that make him "Politically opportunistic, economically illiterate and hugely damaging to Britain's national interests?"

Typical Labour - The Conservatives come up with a great idea - Labour rubbish it - then they steal it.

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