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.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to back the expansion of Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, turning to the country's most controversial infrastructure project in her hunt for economic growth.

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.

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.

U.K. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves says that the new Labour government is backing the construction of third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport.

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,

Rachel Reeves confirmed plans for a third runway at London Heathrow Airport this morning, (Wednesday, January 29). The ambitious project has been backed by the airport itself, claiming it is the 'bold, responsible vision the UK needs to thrive in the 21st century'.

Joanna Wattis, a resident of Datchet, Berkshire, said the community was "very much against it" and pleaded for the plans to be dropped. But another resident, Bob Beresford, said he thought Heathrow needed to expand to avoid losing traffic to other European airports.

The third runway is part of its drive to lift the U.K. economy out of a long period of stagnation, Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said in a speech on Wednesday.

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.

U.K. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said Wednesday that the new Labour government is backing the construction of third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport. Reeves said in a speech that the construction of another runway at the U.