Rachel Reeves suggested the full Cabinet must back any potential expansion of Heathrow Airport despite previous opposition from senior Government figures, as she all but confirmed plans to endorse a third runway.
The Chancellor refused to be drawn on “speculation” over an upcoming announcement she is expected to make about the project but said decisions would be subject to “full collective ministerial responsibility”.
Facing questions from Sunday broadcasters about how Labour would balance its climate commitments with her search for growth, Ms Reeves said developments in sustainable aviation mean it goes “hand in hand” with boosting the economy.
“A lot (has) changed in terms of aviation,” she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show.
“There’s huge investment going on in electric planes, and also a third runway will mean that instead of circling London, flights can land at Heathrow.”
Asked whether an announcement about the expansion of the airport was imminent, Ms Reeves said: “Well you’ll see the plans when we set them out.
“But 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.”
Senior Labour figures, including some of her Cabinet colleagues, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, have opposed expansion plans in the past, while the aviation industry and business chiefs have consistently been in favour.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has criticised the proposals previously but last week told the PA news agency he would not resign if the Government backed a third runway.
But London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who won a third term in 2024 on a platform of opposing airport expansion in the capital, has said his views “haven’t changed” and suggested any plans would need mitigations for noise pollution and carbon emissions.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Ms Reeves said: “We’ll make announcements about policies when we’re ready to do so, with full collective ministerial responsibility.
“Let me be clear, already this Government has signed off housing developments, a data centre infrastructure to support the AI and tech industry, we’ve supported onshore wind developments.
“We have supported a number of developments to get our country growing again.”
Collective ministerial responsibility is a Westminster convention which means that all members of Cabinet must publicly support Government decisions even if they do not privately agree with them.
Campaigners expressed concern over her remarks on Sunday and their implications for what they described as a “uniquely complicated and costly third runway”.
Paul McGuinness, chairman of the No 3rd Runway Coalition group, said: “If, as is now expected, the Chancellor announces the go ahead for Gatwick’s and Luton’s expansions this week, then perhaps her supportive words about Heathrow are not as significant as some may think.
“Expansions at other London airports undermine the case for Heathrow’s uniquely complicated and costly third runway, making it an even riskier, if not un-investable proposition.”
The Chancellor is expected to use a speech on Wednesday to endorse proposals for a third runway at the west London airport, as well as expansion at Gatwick and Luton airports.
She has faced a bruising start to 2025, with government borrowing costs and the value of the pound buffeted by market turbulence, weak growth figures and concerns among business leaders about the year ahead.
But after returning from a meeting of world leaders and business chiefs in Davos this week, Ms Reeves sought to inject some optimism into the Government’s previous warnings over its challenging economic inheritance.
Britain needs “more positivity” and should be “shouting from the rooftops” about its strengths, she told the Times earlier this week.
Ms Reeves is also expected to use her speech to unveil more changes to slash planning red tape in a bid to kickstart building projects and revive the economy.
The Government has pledged to stop “blockers” and deliver 1.5 million new homes, as well as securing 150 decisions on major infrastructure projects by the end of the Parliament.
So far, it has taken 13 planning decisions and approved nine nationally significant infrastructure projects including airports, energy farms and housing developments.
Environmental assessments for building homes and infrastructure will be replaced with a new system which the Treasury says will save developers time and money.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which aims to remove barriers which prevent construction, and to get projects approved faster, will be introduced to Parliament in spring, Ms Reeves confirmed.
Elsewhere, the chairman of the UK’s competition watchdog was replaced this week by a former Amazon chief, with the Chancellor suggesting the post-holder should share the Government’s “mission” as it pursues growth.
As she pushes ahead with plans to tear down red tape, Ms Reeves said former head of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Marcus Bokkerink had stepped down because he had a “different strategic approach when it comes to regulation”.
In his first remarks since taking over, interim chairman Doug Gurr indicated the regulator would embrace the Chancellor’s focus on boosting the economy after more than 100 Labour MPs wrote to him urging a “rapid pro-growth review” of the organisation’s work.
“It’s great to have this sort of clear-sighted input and support from parliamentarians,” Mr Gurr said.
“I think they’re right that the CMA can play a leading role in the ambitions for growth and prosperity laid out in the letter.”
He said the watchdog was “already working closely on how we take forward thinking to achieve that”.
Labour Growth Group, a centrist faction within the party, had written to Mr Gurr calling for talks on how to “work to align competition policy with the Government’s overriding mission of growth”.
Following his response, the group said: “We wrote to (the CMA) calling for a ‘rapid pro-growth review’ – and we welcome their response. They now have the chance to provide an example for others.”
