Healey backs pro-growth case for Heathrow third runway after Burnham ducks issue
Source: The Guardian ·
Chancellor says government will study responses to public consultation, with airports being ‘big part of jobs and growth’John Healey has said there is a pro-growth case for going ahead with a third runway at Heathrow despite the prime minister declining to back it.Healey’s predecessor as chancellor, Rachel Reeves, put approval of the long-planned runway at the heart of her “growth speech” last…
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John Healey has said there is a pro-growth case for going ahead with a third runway at Heathrow despite the prime minister declining to back it. Healey’s predecessor as chancellor, Rachel Reeves, put approval of the long-planned runway at the heart of her “growth speech” last year, saying it would “make Britain the world’s best-connected place to do business”. However, since arriving in No 10 in July, Andy Burnham has ducked the issue of whether the runway should go ahead, suggesting it should be “a matter for London and Londoners”. A recent Sunday Times report suggested the prime minister had told the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, that he was “unconvinced” by arguments for the megaproject. Asked for his views in Bangkok this week, Healey said the government would study responses to a public consultation, which recently closed. He appeared to strike a markedly more positive note than Burnham, however. “I think in recent decades, and this is true in Heathrow and airports right…