Britain’s Labour government on Wednesday backed a plan for a third runway at London’s busy Heathrow airport, with finance minister Rachel Reeves saying it would help grow the economy while respecting climate goals.
“I can confirm today that this government supports a third runway at Heathrow and is inviting proposals to be brought forward by the summer,” Reeves said in a speech, adding that a new airstrip “would unlock growth”.
Despite opposition from environmentalists and some Labour MPs, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is determined to deliver major infrastructure projects to grow a UK economy that has struggled to take off since the party came to power in July.
Writing in The Times newspaper Wednesday, Starmer said the government would “kick down the barriers to building, clear out the regulatory weeds and allow a new era of British growth to bloom”.
Heathrow, Europe’s biggest airport by passenger numbers, welcomed a record number of travellers last year with the global aviation sector having recovered from the turbulent Covid years.
“A third runway and the infrastructure that comes with it would unlock billions of pounds of private money to stimulate the UK supply chain during construction,” Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said in reaction to the government’s backing.
Following years of legal wrangling, Britain’s Supreme Court ruled at the end of 2020 that Heathrow could build a third runway, overturning a legal decision to block construction on environmental grounds.
While the Conservative government at the time said building work could begin in 2022, the project has been delayed by further obstacles and upheaval created by the coronavirus pandemic.
Building a new runway was priced at £14 billion a decade ago — a sum estimated to have soared to tens of billions of pounds (dollars) in the wake of surging inflation.
“We will work with a private sector to deliver the infrastructure that our country desperately needs,” Reeves added during her speech in Oxfordshire, north of London.
Vowing to go “further and faster” to kickstart the economy, she also unveiled plans to deliver a Growth Corridor between the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The scheme providing improved transport links and affordable housing has the potential to be Europe’s Silicon Valley and boost the UK economy by up to £78 billion ($97 billion) by 2035, the government said.
Climate concerns
Reeves said the government would “ensure that a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives”.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who has previously opposed a third runway at Heathrow over environmental concerns, this week insisted that a new airstrip must not impact the UK government’s goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“There is much to welcome in the chancellor’s speech… including her very important statement that there is no trade-off between economic growth and net zero, and that net zero is the industrial opportunity of the 21st century,” said Bob Ward, an expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
He warned, however, that a third runway “should not proceed until the government shows exactly how it will be compatible with the UK’s carbon budgets and net zero target”.
The government is shortly expected to also back expansion at two other airports serving the capital — Gatwick and Luton.
Labour has already approved upgrades to London’s Stansted and City airports.
Britain’s economy has stagnated in the almost seven months since the party ended 14 years of rule by the Conservatives in a landslide election victory.
Opposition lawmakers and some analysts have blamed the lack of growth on a decision by Reeves in her inaugural budget to hike business tax.
AFP
