Heathrow's third runway can be built in 10 years, Reeves says

Heathrow's third runway can be built and operating in a decade's time, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.

Reeves told the BBC she wanted to see "spades in the ground" in the current Parliament and planes to start using the runway by 2035.

She also said that Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London who is opposed to Heathrow's expansion, could not stop the new runway.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the Conservatives were in favour of a third runway at Heathrow "in principle" but "it remains to be seen" whether it can be built in a decade.

The extra runway at Heathrow was one of a number of infrastructure projects announced by the chancellor on Wednesday as part of the government's plans to boost economic growth.

"We think that we can get flights off within a decade," Reeves told the BBC.

"I say that because we're not just announcing that we back it, we are changing the way that our planning system works to make it easier to deliver projects like the third runway at Heathrow."

When asked if Sadiq Khan could stop the expansion the chancellor said "no".

"There can be judicial reviews but we are confident that this airport expansion will happen, that we will get the third runway built," she said.

Some have argued that it will take much longer than a decade for a third runway at Heathrow to become reality.

A formal planning process has to take place, which could take between 18 months and two years. Any judicial review of the plan could take another year and a half, while actually building the runway could take about seven years.

The airport's expansion is highly controversial - facing opposition from environmental groups, local authorities and nearby residents.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has called the plan "a dead cat".

"If it ever arrives, it will be about 2040, 2045 or 2050... it will not deliver any growth," he said on Wednesday.

The Green Party has called Heathrow's expansion the "definition of irresponsible", with the party's co-leader, Adrian Ramsay, saying it was a "fantasy" that the projects could be done without environmental damage.

Reeves was questioned over her previous opposition to the expansion of Leeds-Bradford airport over air and noise pollution grounds.

"If Leeds-Bradford came back with plans to expand I would support these because I think things have changed significantly in the past few years," she said.

She said there were now more efficient plane engines and the use of sustainable aviation fuel was a "game changer".

However, supplies of this fuel are currently very low. According to the European regulator EASA, they made up just 0.05% of the fuel used in the EU in 2020. It also costs much more than regular jet fuel.

The UK government has introduced a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate which stipulates that 2% of all jet fuel supplied this year must be SAF, increasing to 10% in 2030 and 22% in 2040.

The director-general of the International Air Transport Association, Willie Walsh, has cast doubt on how quickly this can be achieved.

"Sustainable fuel is a real thing, but we need it in significantly greater volumes than are available today," he told LBC on Wednesday.

"Mandating airlines to use a fuel source that doesn't exist today doesn't make an awful lot of sense."

Stride said that while the Conservatives backed the third runway in principle, "it will take some considerable time".

"If the government keeps pushing on this it will be maybe the 2040s or the 2050s or who knows before it comes off."

Despite broadly backing plans to boost the UK's infrastructure, the Conservatives have argued tax rises in the Budget and planned changes to employment rights will damage growth.

"The biggest barriers to growth in this country are Rachel Reeves, Keir Starmer and their job-destroying Budget," Stride said.

As well as announcing backing for a third runway at Heathrow, the chancellor also said on Wednesday that other projects would be supported to try to boost growth in the economy.

Expansions at Luton and Gatwick airports are being backed, as well as a "growth corridor" between Oxford and Cambridge, which she claimed could be "Europe's Silicon Valley".

Reeves also told the BBC that when it came to planning and decision making over infrastructure projects "we need to do things differently".

It emerged last year that the HS2 rail line was spending £100m on a shield to protect bats in ancient woodland in Buckinghamshire.

The chancellor said: "There are trade-offs and the balance has gone too far in the direction of always protecting every bat and every newt."

The government is setting up a fund which builders can pay into to help nature restoration, "but not necessarily in the place the development is happening", Reeves said.

"So builders can get on and build, and that money can be used for nature restoration projects elsewhere."

Separately, a leading economic think tank has warned that higher borrowing costs for the government may mean tax rises or spending cuts if it wants to stick to its own self-imposed rules.

According to a report from the Resolution Foundation, the government is spending £7bn a year more paying interest on its debt than it was at the time of the Budget.

As a result, the think tank said higher tax or cuts "may be needed" if the government wants to keep its promise not to spend more day-to-day than it brings in through tax.

A Treasury spokesperson told the BBC its commitment to its fiscal rules is "non-negotiable".

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