Heathrow third runway fails to get backing from Ed Miliband who says decision on it 'some years off'
Heathrow third runway fails to get backing from Ed Miliband who says decision on it 'some years off'
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Plans for a third runway have failed to get the personal backing of Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband. Mr Miliband, who previously opposed expanding the west London airport, stressed the new proposals would have to meet the UK’s legally-binding climate change goals, as well as local environmental standards. He emphasised that a decision on a third runway was “some years off”, with expectations that it will then be challenged in the courts.
A bigger Heathrow has been enthusiastically supported by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her dash for economic growth. But Mr Miliband, on the morning media round for the Government, repeatedly stopped short of giving the project his personal backing. “I abide by collective responsibility,” he told BBC radio. “The Government has got a position which is to invite a proposal from Heathrow for a third runway.
“It will have to meet carbon budgets, it will have to meet local environmental standards and in the coming years, and it’s some years off, a decision will be made about whether to grant that Heathrow third runway.”. Pushed on BBC Breakfast whether he is in favour of the plans, Mr Miliband said: “I’m part of a Government that has that position. “I was part of the decision-making process and the decision is as Rachel Reeves set it out, that’s the collective decision of the Government”.
Leeds West MP Ms Reeves is now backing airport expansion despite having previously opposed it at Leeds Bradford Airport. She claims that advances in sustainable aviation fuel have changed the arguments in favour of more runways. But this stance has been disputed by academics and environmentalists. Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Miliband, Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Ms Reeves deputy at the Treasury Darren Jones were among more than a dozen Labour MPs who are now ministers who opposed a third runway when it was being pushed through the Commons by the Tories in 2018.
Ms Reeves stresses that a bigger Heathrow will drive economic growth in Britain, with the Bank of England on Thursday having halved its growth forecast for 2025. The Chancellor has been accused of undermining economic growth with her £25 billion hike in National Insurance on employers in her autumn Budget. She has defended the Budget, which included £40 billion of tax rises, some £30 billion more borrowing, to invest around £70 billion more in Britain’s broken public services, including the ailing NHS.
