UK cabinet split over allowing a third runway at Heathrow

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Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet is split over whether to allow a third runway at Heathrow, leaving the contentious scheme on hold as Britain’s busiest airport looks to press ahead with growth plans.  

Bosses at Heathrow, which handles more than 80mn passengers a year, are putting the final touches to their first expansion plan since the pandemic but will not include a third runway at this stage, said people familiar with the matter. 

Downing Street and the Department for Transport said they were “open-minded” about a third runway but only if it satisfied four tests: delivering growth across the country, meeting climate obligations and complying with air pollution and noise considerations.

But one political aide said the cabinet was divided. “It’s no secret that there isn’t universal backing for the third runway, it’s just not a priority right now. [Energy secretary] Ed [Miliband] is the most obvious example of someone who is anti, but there are others who are uncomfortable about expanding Britain’s biggest airport,” the person said.

Heathrow’s leadership is publicly committed to the third runway, but uncertainty over whether the government will approve the project is one factor holding back a decision. Others include financing and a recent change in ownership, after Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and French private equity group Ardian agreed to buy stakes this year.

For now there is a “catch-22”, according to industry and government figures. The airport’s bosses are unlikely to formally begin the costly planning process for a new runway without knowing ministers would support it. But ministers said they were waiting for Heathrow to trigger that process before making a firm decision. 

Of the four tests, a senior government figure said: “They are pretty tough tests, they are stringent, but it’s up to the company [Heathrow] to explain whether they can be met.”

Heathrow’s hopes that ministers would back a third runway were raised after Rachel Reeves signalled in June that a Labour government could back the project, which has been subject to political wrangling for almost two decades. “I have nothing against expanding airport capacity. I want Heathrow to be that European hub for travel,” the chancellor said. 

Downing Street has since said the prime minister was “not opposed in principle to new or longer runways or to people flying more”.

A third runway was first proposed by the last Labour government in 2003 on economic grounds but subsequent Conservative administrations tried and failed to progress the scheme. Several prominent Labour politicians, including Miliband and London mayor Sadiq Khan, and environmental campaign groups have strongly opposed it.

They argue that a huge expansion in flying is incompatible with the UK’s legally binding target to reach net zero carbon emissions, since aviation is one of the most difficult industries to decarbonise.

Labour’s election manifesto did not mention Heathrow or any airport expansion. In the last House of Commons vote on a third runway at Heathrow in 2018, seven members of the current cabinet voted against it, including Starmer.

The others were Miliband, Steve Reed, Lisa Nandy, Darren Jones, Anneliese Dodds and Hilary Benn. A further 14 members of the current cabinet voted in favour.

Reeves in July pledged to review the national policy frameworks for critical infrastructure within a year.

Alistair Watson, head of planning and partner at law firm Taylor Wessing, said the government would need to clarify its position on Heathrow imminently because the UK’s policy framework for airport expansion, which in 2018 backed a third runway at Heathrow, was “due for review”.

One influential Labour MP said: “They’ve shifted the language to sound a little more positive but there’s no consensus that this [a third runway] is something that they are going to do, given you’ve got cabinet ministers who don’t want it and the London mayor would campaign against us.

“There are actual hurdles here in terms of noise and pollution in west London which still feel pretty insurmountable,” the MP added.

The aviation industry has been buoyed in recent months by the government authorising the expansion of London City Airport and touting expansion at London Stansted as part of its investment summit last month.

A spokesperson for Miliband declined to comment. Transport for London said Khan was “committed to opposing expansion at Heathrow”.

Heathrow said growing the economy meant “adding capacity” at the airport and that it planned to “unlock capacity by improving and upgrading our existing infrastructure, while also looking at potential options to deliver a third runway in line with strict tests on carbon, noise and air quality”.