In a move that appears more motivated by the naked ambition of a multi-millionaire candidate for London Mayor than good policy for the country, the UK Government announced late last night that it would defer a decision until after the election of a new London Mayor, next summer.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson is not standing in the election due next May. This will end two terms of a job that the UK Conservative party thinks is so important to win that is has delayed an important decision for the whole of the UK.

The Conservative candidate, Zac Goldsmith is standing for the job and he opposes any expansion at Heathrow. Business Groups in the UK have reacted angrily as they believe the delay to a decision will have an impact on business growth is unsound. Mr. Goldsmith had promised to resign as an MP if the Government chose Heathrow, although he now ‘regrets’ that offer.

The Government claims it needs to “undertake more work on environmental impacts, including air quality, noise and carbon” before it can reach a decision.

Every passenger who has ever had to stack over Bovingdon (or elsewhere in the South East) will have cause to regret this postponement – Heathrow needs more capacity and frankly it is hard to really understand what more new reports would do to help anyone understand this need.