Speculation continues to grow over the possibility that the government will announce a third runway at Heathrow this week, following comments made by chancellor Rachel Reeves on the Sunday media round yesterday morning (26 January).
A decision is also due on a second runway for commercial flights at Gatwick by 27 February, after the airport submitted a development consent order in 2023.
Although Reeves didn’t fully confirm any airport expansion plans yesterday, she did little to dispel the rumours when saying to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the government is “getting on and delivering”.
“You’ll see the plans when we set them out,” she said when pressed by Kuenssberg.
“Already this government had signed off expansion at London City airport and Stansted airport. Both of those decisions, again, were decisions that the previous government had stalled.
“We are getting on and delivering. That will be good for investment and trade in our country and also good for families wanting to go on cheaper holidays as well.”
The BBC reports that she is “expected to make an announcement backing airport expansion” this week at a major speech on the government’s economic strategy.
Lift off for UK plc
Marco Forgione, the director general of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, is among those from the business community backing the plans.
“Airports are essential to driving UK trade growth, not only in terms of goods exports but also – as our report with Flint Global shows – in supporting UK services exports, which form around 80% of the UK economy.
“We would also urge the government to invest in growing the UK’s wider infrastructure system, including road, rail and ports, to keep up with the huge investment taking place around the world".
It is understood that a group of over 80 businesses wrote to the government over the weekend to endorse the plans. Reeves agrees that the expansion is needed to help Labour achieve its mission of boosting economic growth.
“Growth is the number one mission of this government, because growth underpins everything else, whether that is improving our schools and our hospitals, or indeed being able to get to net zero,” she said at Davos last week.
Turbulence ahead?
Airport expansion around London has been a source of debate for decades, since the Roskill Commission was launched in 1968 to identify a new airport site for London.
The idea of a third runway at Heathrow has long been backed by various business groups, becoming government policy in 2018. However, these plans stalled due to legal complaints from environmental groups, according to the Times.
“Yet this proved to be another false dawn, as green campaigners challenged the legality of the decision on environmental grounds,” writes Oliver Gill, the Sunday Times’ industry and leisure business editor.
“By the time the Supreme Court ultimately sided with Heathrow, Britain was in the depths of the Covid pandemic, which both created fears about the future demand for flying and put a squeeze on Heathrow’s finances.”
The previous Labour government led by Gordon Brown in the late 2000s also backed expanding Heathrow but wasn’t able to progress its plans before being ousted in the 2010 general election.
Airing grievances
The proposed expansion has attracted criticism from within Labour circles, residential groups and from environmental activists.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said he is still opposed to the plans and that he would support any further legal challenges.
Environment minister Ed Miliband, who threatened to resign from Brown’s government in the 2000s over the issue, said he wouldn’t resign in this instance, as he believes clean energy was “absolutely complementary” with the wider growth mission.
Alethea Warrington, head of aviation at climate charity Possible, told the BBC last week:
"Approving airport expansions would be a catastrophic misstep for a government which claims to be a climate leader.
"This huge increase in emissions won't help our economy, and would just encourage the small group of frequent flyers who take most of the flights, further worsening the UK's huge tourism deficit."
The Climate Change Committee has also indicated that airport expansions would be counter-productive to the UK’s net zero ambitions.
“There should be no net airport expansion unless the carbon-intensity of aviation is outperforming the government’s emissions reduction pathway and can accommodate the additional demand,” it has said, according to the Big Issue.
The plans have also been criticised for contributing to noise pollution and poorer air quality for residents in London. A group of MPs have called for the Gatwick plans to be delayed until noise levels are properly monitored.
"In most of our constituencies there is only one active noise monitor and in some there is no noise monitoring at all," the letter – signed by five MPs from Sussex, Surrey and Kent, and seen by the BBC – says.
"The little monitoring which is taking place paints a worrying picture."
Soft landing in Westminster
In response to environmental concerns, Reeves said that “sustainable aviation and economic growth go hand-in-hand”, adding that there was “huge investment going on in electric planes” and that “a third runway will mean that instead of circling London, flights can land at Heathrow.”
The government also has the backing of the opposition Conservative Party, with Kemi Badenoch telling Sky News she “absolutely would” support the plans.
“I've had to vote on this before, and I voted in support of the third runway.
"I know that it is very difficult for a lot of people when there's an airport in your area. I know, because I'm the MP for an airport as well. I have never opposed growth or development.
"What I want to do is make sure it's done in the right way."
