Meanwhile, a 2016 report from the Department for Transport which looked at airport capacity made a more specific claim than Ms Reeves’, which appeared to allow for Manchester Airport’s second runway, saying: “We have failed to build a new full-length runway in the South East since the 1940s.”.
But Manchester Airport does use that term to describe the runway built in 2001 — its website states: “Manchester is still the only airport outside of London with two full-length runways.” According to the Institution of Civil Engineers, the airport’s two runways are 3,200 metres and 3,048 metres long.
On Thursday, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about government backing for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed “the last time we built a runway in this country was in the 1940s”.
It confirmed that the last full-length runway built in Britain was in Manchester in 2001, and that the last full-length runway built in the South East was in the 1940s.
Ms Reeves made a slightly different claim on Wednesday in a major speech on boosting economic growth, saying: “The last full-length runway in Britain was built in the 1940s.”.
