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The government will make a decision on airport expansion by the end of the year, prime minister David Cameron has pledged.
He was speaking after the Airports Commission recommended a third runway at Heathrow as its chosen solution but described expansion of Gatwick as “feasible”.
During prime minister’s questions, Labour’s acting leader Harriet Harman said Cameron had been “overruled” by London mayor and local MP to Heathrow Boris Johnson, who predicted that a third runway at Heathrow “won’t happen”.
“Will he stand up for Britain’s interests or will he just be bullied by Boris,” she asked.
Cameron, who ruled out Heathrow expansion in 2009 with “no ifs, no buts”, told Harman there were legal reasons why the government could not announce its decision before fully digesting the report, the BBC reported.
“If you make some precipitate decision or rule out one particular option you will actually make the decision you would like to make impossible to achieve because of judicial review,” he added in a response to Conservative MP and likely 2016 mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, a vocal opponent of Heathrow expansion.