At the Conservative Party Conference, senior BAA figures revealed that, if the Tories win the next election, the company will give up the fight for a third runway - according to today's Sunday Times.

Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, said: "It seems BAA has woken up to the fact that we mean what we say on Heathrow and that if we win the general election there will be no third runway."

BAA has said that before the election it will not submit a planning application and will not sign large contracts in an attempt to "bounce" a future Conservative government to go ahead.

The Conservatives had already warned BAA that they would not be pushed into accepting a runway by this tactic and told BAA not to sign any construction deals.

Publicly, BAA executives are urging the Tories not to "close the door" on expansion plants and say they are still working on the project. But The Sunday Times reports that they admitted they were surrendering in a meeting with aides to Villiers last week.