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Energy secretary Ed Miliband says he will not resign if the UK government approves a third runway at Heathrow, making the scheme more likely to proceed after two decades of wrangling.
Miliband has long fought against expanding Britain’s biggest airport on climate and pollution grounds, threatening to resign from the cabinet 17 years ago and opposing the scheme when he was Labour leader.
As energy secretary, Miliband has a significant responsibility to help Britain hit its net zero climate targets. But when he was asked on Thursday if he would resign if the Labour government backed the scheme, he replied: “No, don’t be ridiculous.”
Miliband’s concession comes as chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to use a “growth speech” next week to signal her economic priorities, including her support for the expansion of three London airports: Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick.
Gatwick and Luton are set to receive approval this spring for expansions from Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary.
But Heathrow Airport Holdings has not yet put forward a “development consent order” application for a third runway because of a lack of political support.
The company paused its planning for a third runway when the Covid pandemic struck in 2020, but has indicated it would make a decision on whether to go ahead this year.
Sadiq Khan, Labour mayor of London, is opposed to the scheme, telling the London Assembly on Thursday that his views had not changed.
Khan questioned whether Heathrow’s expansion could meet the government’s tests on noise and air pollution and climate change, adding: “We face a climate crisis and a climate emergency.”
Miliband told reporters that the government could realise its economic growth aims while also achieving its climate targets, despite environmentalists’ concerns about the impact of expanding Heathrow.
When Miliband voted against the project in the Commons in 2018 — along with now prime minister Sir Keir Starmer — he said “we owe it to future generations not just to have good environmental principles but to act on them”.
On Thursday the energy secretary said any airport expansion would have to take place within the UK’s “carbon budgets” through which the country aims to gradually cut net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
The independent advisory Climate Change Committee has warned against airport expansion without a national plan to curb emissions and to manage passenger capacity.
“We believe that we can meet our growth mission — our number one priority — and keep within carbon budgets, and indeed that our clean energy mission is crucial and a central part of meeting our growth mission,” said Miliband.
“Far from them being in contradiction, they are absolutely complementary.”
Environmental groups believe that airport expansion is incompatible with cutting greenhouse gas emissions, as the aviation industry struggles to decarbonise its operations.
Airlines have pledged to reach net zero by 2050, chiefly through the use of “sustainable aviation fuels” produced from non-fossil materials — including used cooking oil and animal fats.
But these fuels are far more expensive than jet fuel and in short supply.
“Aviation has no short-to-medium term solutions for its carbon footprint,” said Alex Chapman, a senior economist at the New Economics Foundation, a think-tank that opposes airport expansion.
Reeves said last July she wanted Heathrow to build a third runway.
On Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, she said a third runway would boost economic growth.
“We will look at all plans to bring infrastructure, to bring investment to Britain,” she said. “When there are decisions around infrastructure investment, the answer can’t always be ‘no’, and with this government the answer is ‘yes’”.
