Downing St vows Coalition will keep Heathrow pledge

The Coalition will keep its pledge not to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport despite renewed pressure from MPs and business leaders to approve the expansion, Downing Street said.

Senior Conservative Tim Yeo launched a stinging attack on the Prime Minister in the Daily Telegraph where he said the Prime Minister must decide whether he is a "man or a mouse" and drop his objection to building the third runway.

Political Correspondent Libby Wiener has the full report:

The call for a third runway comes after Housing Minister Grant Shapps warned that the expansion was needed to ensure the UK remained a "great trading nation".

Mr Yeo insists that environmental objections to controversial calls for a third runway are disappearing and claimed backing the move would give the Government a "sense of mission".

In an interview with ITV News, Mr Yeo said he thought the Prime Minister would prove that he is a "man, not a mouse" over the issue.

However, Downing Street has since said the Coalition would stick by its commitment that there would not be a third runway.

Transport Secretary Justine Greening admitted she would find it "difficult" to remain in a Government which backed a third runway at the airport.

She is a prominent campaigner against a third runway which she fears would directly affect the quality of life of her constituents in Putney, south-west London.

Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme whether she could continue to serve in government if a third runway was approved, she said: "I think it would be difficult for me to do that. But I think, at the end of the day, the process I'm about to kick off is one that will see us come up with a much better, longer-term, solution."