Zac Goldsmith intends to resign as Tory MP after annoucement to expand Heathrow
Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston has said he intends to resign and force a by-election after the government announced it would approve plans for a third runway at Heathrow this morning.
The Huffington Post reported that the MP has told his local association that he intends to honour his promise to step down in opposition to the plans.
Zac has contacted the Association to let us know that he intends to honour his pledge to resign and force a by election in Richmond Park.
The chairman has called an emergency meeting of executive council for tomorrow evening to discuss this turn of events and will issue a full statement to members on the association's position on Thurday.
But the Richmond Park Conservatives told City A.M. they had not yet received an official resignation.
Following the Government's catastrophic Heathrow announcement, I will be meeting my constituents later today before making a statement.
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) October 25, 2016
The government announced this morning it would approve plans for Heathrow to build a third runway.
Read more: Heathrow vs. Gatwick debate: Don't expect expansion anytime soon
Goldsmith confirmed to CityAM last week that he would honour his promise to his constituents.
I made a promise years ago to trigger a by-election if the Government gives a green light for Heathrow expansion and I will of course honour it. But for now I am concentrating on winning the arguments.
He won the Richmond Park constituency from the Liberal Democrats in 2010, and in 2015 held the seat with a 23,000 majority and a 16 per cent.