Plans to expand London's other airports are already further along than Heathrow's and have in the past been viewed as an alternative to a third Heathrow runway. Work is set to start this year to expand capacity at Stansted's terminal. The government is due to make a decision on Gatwick airport by 27 February.

It is the rich and the corporations who will take the lion’s share of the benefits from Labour’s and all airport expansions, while the poorest around the world pay the costs.

To justify air travel emissions ballooning in the meantime, the aviation sector has promised a mix of “supply-side” measures, like replacing kerosene with so-called “sustainable aviation fuel” (SAF), which Reeves described as “a game changer”, and making planes lighter and more fuel-efficient.

In the historic west London village of Harmondsworth, Justine Bayley pointed to where Heathrow Airport’s new boundary would likely

"Three-quarters of the village would be demolished. It wouldn't be a viable community. Pubs, the shops will go because there aren't enough customers. "The bus won't come up on the main road because there's a runway in the way.

In a major speech, the country’s top finance official pushed for faster economic growth, and supported a long-debated expansion at the London airport.

Britain's Labour government will back the construction of a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport to boost trade and economic growth, finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday. Successive governments have dithered over whether to expand the site to the west of London,

Rachel Reeves has told London Mayor Sadiq Khan she is certain to defeat his bid to sabotage her Heathrow expansion scheme. Asked if Mr Khan was able to stop to her third runway plan, the Chancellor replied: ‘No.’ The capital’s Labour mayor could mount a legal challenge, she said, but he would not prevail in the end.

Declaring that “growth will not come without a fight”, she said that the government would back airport expansion and offered more clues about plans to unshackle housebuilding. The Heathrow decision is the surest sign yet of the government prioritising growth,

British businesses turned more pessimistic in January, extending a run of falling corporate confidence to five months, but there were some more hopeful views about trading prospects for the coming year,

Labour’s airport plan admits economic growth trumps carbon piety.