Menu
Thu, 30 January 2025

Newsletter sign-up

Subscribe now
The House Live All
British blackcurrant growers call on MPs to support investment in innovation and sustainability Partner content
Economy
Economy
Environment
Urgent action needed to tackle deadly e-bike and e-scooter fires Partner content
By Electrical Safety First
Communities
By Nick Harrison
Communities
Press releases
By WSP

Labour Figures Come Out Against Chancellor's 'Environmentally Illiterate' Plans

Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a speech on Wednesday (Alamy)

3 min read

Multiple Labour figures have come out against Chancellor Rachel Reeves after she announced support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport and reducing environmental requirements placed on developers.

Delivering a speech on Wednesday, Reeves announced that the government would back a controversial third runway at Heathrow, arguing that that the major airport "is at the heart of the UK’s openness as a country".

The chancellor also said that the government would reduce the environmental requirements placed on developers when they pay into a nature restoration fund – "so they can focus on getting things built – and stop worrying about the bats and the newts – to build new infrastructure like nuclear power plants, train lines and wind farms more quickly".

Barry Gardiner, former shadow climate change secretary and MP for Brent West in west London close to Heathrow, strongly opposed the chancellor's announcements. 

"Quite honestly, I would say that she's an environmental illiterate," he told PoliticsHome, calling the decision on the third runway "totally irresponsible".

"The mistake the chancellor is making is to pit decarbonisation against economic growth. For the past several years, the Labour Party, she and Keir Starmer, have been insisting correctly that future growth depends on the journey to net zero. They have now completely done a U-turn."

A number of other Labour MPs have opposed the plans. Ruth Cadbury, the Chair of the Transport Committee, told PoliticsHome in an interview that the government should not lose sight of cutting carbon emissions as it debates the merits of a third runway.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also come out against the announcement.

In a statement, he said: "I remain opposed to a new runway at Heathrow Airport because of the severe impact it will have on noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets.

"Despite the progress that's been made in the aviation sector to make it more sustainable, I'm simply not convinced that you can have hundreds of thousands of additional flights at Heathrow every year without a hugely damaging impact on our environment."

Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney, whose west London constituency of Richmond Park is also in Heathrow Airport's flightpaths, told PoliticsHome her party remains "completely opposed" to the expansion. 

"It's not just nimbyism, and it's not just legal challenges," she insisted.

"There are real fundamental economic and operational difficulties with expanding, so until there's a confirmed plan on the table that has got funding with it, then it's just very silly to be talking about it."

Others however are more supportive. The Conservative Environment Network said it supported the plans, but was concerned they would be "betrayed by the government's statist instincts".

Sam Hall, Director of CEN, said: “The environment and economic growth are inextricably linked. Neither are well served by the status quo.

"The government’s intention to accelerate green infrastructure and reform poorly designed environmental regulations which are slowing growth and failing nature is promising. If they actually follow through on their rhetoric, they can grow the economy, raise living standards, and protect our natural environment.

"If the Chancellor wants faster growth, the government must ditch its statist ideology and back a truly market-led approach to meeting our environmental goals.”

Explaining the government's support for the third runway, the chancellor said: "It connects us to emerging markets all over the world, opening up new opportunities for growth.

"But for decades, its growth has been constrained. Successive studies have shown that this really matters for our economy."

PoliticsHome Newsletters

PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe