Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander opposed third runway at Heathrow which Rachel Reeves appears to now back
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Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has opposed a third runway at Heathrow, The London Standard can reveal. She made clear she was against expanding the west London airport when she was the city’s deputy mayor for transport. Another runway could see the number of annual flights at Heathrow jump from 480,000 to more than 700,000 with the impact on climate change, noise blighting London communities and air pollution.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves appears to be keen to push through a third runway in her dash for economic growth. But Ms Alexander is the eighth Cabinet minister who has opposed another runway at Heathrow, as has Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. She did a joint interview with Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan with Reuters, which was streamed live on November 11, 2020, during which she was asked if the Heathrow expansion plans should be ditched and airports closed given the impact of the Covid pandemic.
Ms Alexander responded: “Sadiq may want to say something on this issue - we have been clear with our opposition to a third runway at Heathrow. “ But we have also, as far as I’m concerned quite aware of the importance of aviation to our economy and it is what makes London a global city.
“So I think that would be premature to be talking about closure of airports.”. Ms Alexander replaced Louise Haigh as Transport Secretary last year, sparking suggestions that she may be more amenable to backing a third runway as Ms Haigh had stressed the environmental challenges to the development.
