MPs overwhelmingly backed a third runway at Heathrow last night that will expand the airport’s capacity by hundreds of thousands of flights after decades of delay.
A three-line whip imposed on the Tories to support the proposals, combined with a free vote for Labour MPs and the abstention of Scottish Nationalists, meant that the plans were voted through with a majority of 296.
Boris Johnson, a vocal opponent of the west London airport’s expansion, provoked derision after he missed the vote to be in Afghanistan, despite a vow to lie down in front of bulldozers to prevent the scheme.
