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Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said he will not resign if the British government approves a third runway for Heathrow, raising the possibility that the plan will go ahead after two decades of controversy.
Mr Miliband has long opposed the expansion of Britain’s biggest airport on climate and pollution grounds, threatening to resign as Labor leader 17 years ago when he opposed the plan.
As Energy Secretary, Mr Miliband has a huge responsibility to help the UK achieve its net-zero climate targets. But asked on Thursday whether he would resign if a Labor government backed the plan, he said: “No, don’t say anything stupid.”
Mr Miliband’s concession comes as Prime Minister Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver a “growth speech” next week setting out her economic priorities, including support for the expansion of London’s Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick airports. It was held in the middle of the day.
Gatwick and Luton airports are expected to receive expansion approval from Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander this spring.
However, Heathrow Airport Holdings has yet to apply for a ‘development consent order’ for the third runway due to a lack of political support.
The company suspended plans for a third runway during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but has indicated it intends to decide whether to move forward this year.
London’s Labor mayor, Sadiq Khan, opposes the plans and told London’s parliament on Thursday that he had not changed his mind.
Mr Khan questioned whether Heathrow’s expansion would meet government tests on noise, air pollution and climate change, adding: “We are facing a climate crisis and a climate emergency.”
Mr Miliband told reporters that despite concerns from environmentalists about the impact of expanding Heathrow, the government could still meet its economic growth targets while also meeting its climate change targets.
When Mr Miliband voted against the project in the House of Commons in 2018, along with current Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, he said: ‘We want future generations to not only have good environmental principles, but to act on them. There is an obligation to do so.”
On Thursday, the Energy Secretary said the airport expansion must come within the scope of the UK’s “carbon budget”, which aims to gradually reduce net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
The Committee on Climate Change, an independent advisory body, has warned against airport expansion without a national plan to curb emissions and manage passenger numbers.
“We believe we can achieve our top priority growth mission and stay within our carbon budget. This is central to the above,” Mr Miliband said.
“Far from being contradictory, they are completely complementary.”
As the airline industry struggles to decarbonize, environmental groups believe airport expansion is incompatible with reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Airlines have pledged to achieve net zero by 2050 through the use of “sustainable aviation fuels”, primarily produced from non-fossil raw materials such as used cooking oil and animal fats.
However, these fuels are much more expensive than jet fuel and are in short supply.
“The airline industry doesn’t have a short- to medium-term solution to carbon emissions,” said Alex Chapman, senior economist at the New Economics Foundation, a think tank that opposes airport expansion.
Mr Reeves said in July last year that he wanted Heathrow to build a third runway.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, she said a third runway would boost economic growth.
“We will consider all plans to bring infrastructure and investment to the UK,” she said. “When there are decisions about infrastructure investment, the answer is not always ‘no’, but with this government the answer is ‘yes’.”
