Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband has said he will not resign if the government backs a third runway at Heathrow Airport – despite being a long-time opponent of it.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to use a speech on growth next week to announce approval for new runway at Heathrow, and the Treasury is also considering whether to back a second runway at Gatwick and increased capacity at Luton Airport.
Miliband told the Press Association news agency ministers could meet their growth and net-zero missions at the same time.
Asked if he would quit if a third Heathrow runway got the go-ahead, he said: “Don’t be ridiculous, no.”
In 2009, Miliband was widely reported to have threatened to resign from Gordon Brown’s cabinet over plans to expand Heathrow.
Speaking on Thursday, he said the government’s position was that any aviation expansion should take place within the UK’s carbon budgets, which are part of plans to meet the 2050 target of reducing emissions by 100% compared with 1990 levels.
Independent government advisers on the Climate Change Committee (CCC) have warned there should be no net airport expansion without a proper national plan to curb emissions from the sector and to manage passenger capacity.
Miliband insisted that was “absolutely the position of the government”.
“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.
“Far from them being in contradiction, they are absolutely complementary,” he argued.
Challenged on whether the country could still meet net zero with a third Heathrow runway, he replied: “I’m not getting into speculation about specific issues like that.
“What I’m saying is that aviation is part of our economic growth and it has to take place within our carbon budgets, and that is accepted right across government because we have legally binding carbon budgets.”
Speaking on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Chancellor Rachel Reeves signalled her intention to back expansions to Heathrow and Gatwick Airport in a bid to boost economic growth, despite environmental concerns shared by a number of leading Labour figures.
“We will look at all plans to bring infrastructure, to bring investment to Britain.
“When there are decisions around infrastructure investment, the answer can’t always be ‘no’, and with this government the answer is ‘yes’,” Reeves told the BBC.
The idea of building a third runway at Heathrow has been hotly debated for nearly 20 years.
It has been consistently backed by the aviation industry and business leaders – and opposed by environmental groups – but has been held up by major divisions on the issue within both the Labour and Conservative parties.
Sir Keir Starmer and seven ministers who attend his cabinet – including Miliband and Environment Secretary Steve Reed – voted against the proposal when it was brought forward by Theresa May’s government in 2018.
Her then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson – a former London mayor and another long-time critic of a third runway – travelled to Afghanistan on the day of the Commons vote, sparking accusations he had deliberately missed it.
The current Labour mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan, who won a third term in 2024 on a platform of opposing expansion of airports in the capital, told the London Assembly is views “haven’t changed”.
He said while the aviation sector was important for growth, jobs and prosperity, “we face a climate crisis and a climate emergency.”
If approval was given to expanding Heathrow, “could a new runway be built that abides with carbon targets, concerns around noise pollution, and concerns around air pollution?” he asked.
“Should that speculation become a reality, we’ll of course consider the merits of that case,” he added.
“But I’m quite clear, my views on the expansion of Heathrow by a new runway haven’t changed.”
