Rachel Reeves plan for Heathrow to ‘turbo charge’ economy struggles to take off
Rachel Reeves plan for Heathrow to ‘turbo charge’ economy struggles to take off
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Chancellor’s optimistic economic growth vision hit in the short term as Tesco and Lloyds announce hundreds of job losses and she admits fixing the economy is ‘not an easy job’. Rachel Reeves has given her backing to the long awaited expansion of Heathrow airport as she set her “optimistic” vision for Britain’s economy with a plan for growth based around building “faster and better”.
![[Sir Sadiq Khan opposes Heathrow expansion (Lucy North/PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/23/13/217079e678a213cca663d4d571fea23aY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM3NzI1NzEw-2.78398626.jpg)
But the chancellor’s vision was almost immediately hit by short term economic woes with Tesco cutting 400 jobs and Lloyds announcing hundreds of job losses with the closure of 136 branches. This followed Sainsbury cutting 3,000 jobs last week. Meanwhile, Durham University has slashed 200 jobs and Cardiff University cut 400 posts in the last 72 hours. The job losses were linked to Ms Reeves’ “anti-growth” hike in national insurance contributions and plans to roll out workers rights.
![[Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said that businesses were not giving the government a vote of confidence (Yui Mok/PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/18/09/7a1220e732967aa2066c115a531adb69Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0NTk3NzM2-2.77982724.jpg)
Faced with the continued challenges, a beleaguered Ms Reeves told ITV’s Robert Peston: “Look, I'm trying to turn around this economy. It's not an easy job.”. Speaking immediately after her speech in Oxfordshire, she insisted the job gains from measures she has announced will outweigh job losses.
“Today I announced the third runway at Heathrow potentially creating 100,000 jobs and investment in East Midlands Airport, with 2,000 jobs. Investment in an investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire, 6,000 jobs. So, we can trade numbers. The IMF upgraded the forecast for growth for this year for the UK. Only the UK and the US are in that position.”.
