No decision for a year
May delays airport verdict to avoid resignations
UK government says there will be no final decision on London airport expansion until next year.
A Cabinet sub-committee, chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, will declare its preferred option but MPs will not vote until next autumn.
Mrs May said she will give ministers a chance to speak freely about the issue, taken as a sop to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and Education Secretary Justine Greening who oppose Heathrow.
The tactic is seen as a way of avoiding the prospect of resignations from cabinet.
In a letter, Mrs May has told cabinet colleagues that once a decision has been taken by the airports sub-committee on the preferred scheme it will then be subject to a “full and fair public consultation” before a final decision is put before the Commons in the winter of 2017-18.”