MP’s ‘mislead’ over Heathrow
14.06.09
The Government has been accused of misleading MPs by trying to cover up lobbying of ministers by BAA over the expansion of Heathrow, the Times reports. Conservative MPs believe they were given inaccurate replies to questions in Parliament about whether Lord Mandelson’s business department had met BAA to discuss expanding the airport. The newspaper says that Justine Greening, the backbencher who asked the questions, will now ask Michael Martin, the Speaker, to investigate.
BAA lobbied heavily for a third runway and was given the go-ahead in January. In a letter written by Lord Mandelson, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, he refers to meetings between officials in his department and ‘representatives of BAA’, in which expanding the airport was discussed. The letter also refers to a meeting between Baroness Vadera, the business minister, and BAA.
Ms Greening, the MP for Putney, claims that, in a reply to a question she asked in parliament, Ian Pearson, a minister in Lord Mandelson’s department, denied such meetings had taken place. He replied: ‘Ministers and officials . . . have not held meetings specifically on Heathrow expansion.’ He added that Heathrow may have been raised ‘as part of a broader conversation’ about other issues.
However, Lord Mandelson wrote in a letter to Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, on November 19, 2008: ‘I know that Berr officials have recently met with representatives of BAA to discuss the issue of new runway capacity and its significance for security and the long-term competitiveness of the UK economy.’ Ms Greening has accused the government of a cover-up and claimed it had used ‘weasel words’ to conceal the lobbying by BAA.
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