New Heathrow runway grounded for another 18 months despite Theresa May saying decision would be made next week

THERESA May was last night accused of yet another “fudge” on airports after it emerged a final decision may now not come until as late as February 2018.

No10 confirmed Cabinet ministers will meet to agree the government’s preference for a new runway at either Heathrow or Gatwick next week.

A swift vote by MPs to authorise the long-awaited expansion was then expected within weeks.

But in a move that startled business groups as well as unions, Mrs May unexpectedly laid out a far  longer timetable for more deliberations on what the government decides that won’t end until “winter 2017/18”.

The plan included yet another public consultation - after a three year long commission on the issue has already reported - and a fresh Commons committee report.

The timeline differs significantly from the one laid out by then-Transport Secretary Patrick McLaughlin earlier this year, which would have seen a final MPs’ vote by next Spring.

Mrs May’s wobble follows a long and deeply divided Cabinet debate on airports yesterday morning.

Critics accused Mrs May of mounting the fresh delay to try to keep the lid on a bitter Tory rebellion.

Liberal Democrat Transport spokeswoman Jenny Randerson accused the PM of having “kicked the can down the road”.

The GMB Mick Rix blamed “Conservative chaos and division over Heathrow” for “setting our country’s industrial infrastructure back”.

The union boss added: “Theresa May’s fudge has a bitter taste for the workers whose livelihoods depend on a third runway at Heathrow”.

And the director of the right-leaning think tank Institute of Economic Affairs Mark Littlewood added: “Yet another delay on airport expansion is a severe blow for our struggling aviation industry, business and consumers alike.

“Thirteen years of dithering is unacceptable.”

Mrs May also gave her strongest signal yet that ministers will chose Heathrow instead of Gatwick next week when she also gave protesting Cabinet ministers a rare chance to speak out against the decision.

Cabinet responsibility will be lifted, allowing bitter Heathrow critics the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Education Secretary Justine Greening to argue against it.

But they will need Mrs May’s express permission, and will not be able to campaign against the decision – leaving Boris unable to deliver on his pledge to lie in front of bulldozers.

It also emerged yesterday that another Heathrow critic, Tory MP for Richmond Zac Goldsmith, will trigger a by-election if the West London airport is chosen and stand as an independent in it.

The PM’s official spokeswoman dubbed the arrangement “a mature, common-sense approach reflecting the fact that many ministers have long-held views and that ministers are also MPs and some have specific constituency issues that they have to address”.