Heathrow critics storm back into Parliament

Last night’s election saw the return to Parliament of two of the sternest critics of Heathrow Airport’s third runway plans.

Zack Goldsmith won back Richmond Park for the Conservatives. He lost the constituency in a by-election last December that was triggered by his pledge to submit himself for re-election following the government’s decision to give the green light to the new runway.

Goldsmith beat Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney, who won the by-election, by just 45 votes with a total of 28,588.  

Last night also saw Sir Vince Cable re-elected in Twickenham, which he lost to the Conservatives Tania Mathias in 2015.

Sir Vince, who has been a long-standing critic of Heathrow expansion, won 34,969 votes, increasing his share by 14.9% to 52.8%.

Former energy and climate change secretary Sir Ed Davey won back the neighbouring constituency of Kingston and Surbiton for the Lib Dems from James Berry who won it for the Tories in 2015.

The election also saw the sitting MPs retain their seats in Yyns Mon and Copeland, where the planned Wylfa B and Moorside nuclear plants are located.

Albert Owen, MP for Ynys Mon, retained the seat for Labour and saw his majority increase by 10.7% to 15,643.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, former leader of the nuclear-sceptic Plaid Cymru, had been tipped to win back the constituency for the Welsh nationalists.

But he was beaten into third place with 10,237 votes, just behind the Conservatives.

Trudy Harrison retained Copeland, which she won for the Conservatives at a by-election earlier this year when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s past opposition to nuclear power counted against the party.