UK junior trade minister resigns over Heathrow expansion plan

Britain's Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Greg Hands, today resigned from his post to oppose the government's plan to build a third runway at the Heathrow airport here.

A Parliament vote on whether to undertake a 14 billion pounds expansion plant at the airport in west London is due on Monday.

Hands, a Conservative party MP of Chelsea and Fulham constituency in London, said he had pledged to oppose the new runway at the 2017 election.

It had been thought that ministers with constituencies directly affected by the expansion may have been allowed to miss the vote but the government has decided to issue a whip for all Tory MPs to vote on it.

"As the government will be whipping the vote on Monday, this means I am resigning from the government. It has been an honour to serve the Prime Minister (and her predecessor) for the last seven years and I wish the PM & the government every continuing success," Hands tweeted.

The other high-profile opponent of Heathrow expansion in the Cabinet is Boris Johnson, UK foreign secretary, who once pledged to lie down in front of bulldozers to stop it happening.

But he is scheduled to be out of the UK on Monday, so will not be attending the vote in the House of Commons.

Opposition Labour is also divided on the controversial issue and the party MPs are being allowed to vote, however, they want to on the issue with a free vote.

The Heathrow expansion plan of the Theresa May-led UK government is most likely to the green light from MPs next week.

Conservative MPs have been told there is a three-line whip to vote in favour of the proposed expansion plan.