Zac Goldsmith has labelled the government’s decision to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport as wrong and doomed.
The Conservative MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston is to resign over the decision announced after the airport sub-committee this morning sided with expansion at Heathrow over Gatwick Airport.
He was in the House of Commons to hear the Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling’s statement and responded to it with a brief but emotive comment.
He said: “The government has chosen a course that is not only wrong but it is 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 of the complexities, the costs, the legal complications meaning this project is almost certainly not going to be delivered.
“I believe this will be a millstone around this government’s neck for many, many years to come. A constant source of delay, a constant source of anger and betrayal among those people who will be directly affected.
“There are so many questions one could ask of this sort I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
Mr Grayling had earlier told the House the decision was in the best interest of the country and would bolster its economy.
In response to Mr Goldsmith he said: “I am doing today what I believe is right and his views are what he believes is right.
“In politics you have to do what is right. Not all of us get it right all the time but I am doing what I feel is right for this country.”
Feature image courtesy of Policy Exchange, via Twitter, with thanks
