Labour: Heathrow expansion plan does not meet our tests

Jim McMahon has reiterated that the Heathrow expansion plan does not meet Labour’s tests after a Supreme Court ruling today overturned a previous judgement that the decision to go ahead had been taken unlawfully.

The Shadow Transport Secretary commented after the court gave its judgement this morning, which overruled a court of appeal decision in February and means that the project will now be able to apply for planning permission.

McMahon said: “Labour has long been clear that any airport expansion must pass our tests on air quality, noise pollution, delivering countrywide economic benefits and enabling us to meet our obligations on climate change.

“Proposals for an additional runway at Heathrow have not met those tests. We will continue to judge any proposal for airport expansion against the same tests. We know it will take considerable time before the industry returns to normal after the pandemic.

“Ministers should be focusing on delivering the comprehensive financial support package they promised the aviation sector and its supply chain, which supports more than a million jobs and protects the environment.”

The court of appeal had decided earlier this year that the government has a duty to take the Paris climate agreement into account, which seeks to limit global warming, and that it had failed to do so when considering the Heathrow expansion.

Sadiq Khan urged the government then to drop the plans. He tweeted today: “This decision to allow Heathrow Airport a third runway will have a damaging impact on air quality, noise and London’s ability to achieve net-zero carbon by 2030.”

Labour’s mayor of London repeated his clear opposition to the expansion plan, adding: “I urge Heathrow to drop these damaging plans and work with us on a cleaner, greener recovery.”

The airport can now seek a development consent order, a type of planning permission for nationally significant infrastructure projects, but a decision on this will take into account the stricter targets recently announced on emissions.

Local Labour MP and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he was “disappointed” by the ruling but told Sky News that it is “most probably irrelevant” now that the government has pledged to cut 68% of emissions by 2030.

“There’s no way they’d be able to meet that target if they let the third runway go ahead,” the Hayes and Harlington Labour MP said. “I actually think the government is in a position now where it will rule out the third runway.”

The Labour-affiliated GMB trade union welcomed the decision from the Supreme Court this morning, with acting general secretary Warren Kenny hailing it as a “welcome boost at the end to a gruelling year for aviation workers”.

Kenny said: “This judgment is a much-needed injection of hope for economic recovery and the creation of many thousands of good, unionised jobs at Heathrow and in the wider supply chain.

“The government has no more excuses now. It’s time for ministers to step up and back Heathrow and the wider aviation industry with the support it needs to get itself flying once again.”

Before the pandemic, the airport was one of the busiest airports in the world with 80 million passengers per year. The £14bn plans to expand Heathrow would bring an additional 700 planes to the airport each day.

The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favour of Heathrow Airport expansion in June 2018, including a majority of Labour MPs who were given a free vote by Jeremy Corbyn despite the plan not meeting the party’s tests.

Len McCluskey had written to all MPs the night before of the vote, urging them to “make the right choice” and back the expansion plans that he said offered “the opportunity to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs”.

Unite the Union’s general secretary emphasised that the third runway would enable collective bargaining for thousands more members and the creation of many more unionised jobs at Heathrow and other airports.