UK eyes third Heathrow runway in growth takeoff bid [Video]

Britain’s finance minister Rachel Reeves is on Wednesday expected to announce controversial plans for a third runway at London’s Heathrow airport as the Labour government seeks to kickstart economic growth.

Despite opposition from environmentalists and some Labour MPs, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is determined to deliver major infrastructure projects to grow a UK economy which has struggled to take off since the party came to power in July.

Following years of legal wrangling, Britain’s Supreme Court ruled at the end of 2020 that Heathrow — Europe’s biggest airport by passenger numbers — could build a third runway.

That overturned a legal decision to block construction on environmental grounds.

While the then Conservative government said building work could begin in 2022, the project has been delayed by further obstacles and upheaval created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Reeves was expected to deliver news of the government’s Heathrow project alongside expansion plans for …