Tag: United Kingdom

Rachel Reeves has said she wants to see “spades in the ground” at Heathrow Airport in the next five years.

The chancellor confirmed her and the government’s backing for a third runway at Heathrow in a major speech on Wednesday. “I am not satisfied with the position that we are in”, Reeves told reporters. 

“I can confirm today that this government supports a third runway at Heathrow and is inviting proposals to be brought forward by the summer”, she added.

“[The government] will ensure that a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives.”

Questioned on Thursday morning, the chancellor revealed Heathrow has been asked to come up with plans by the summer.

She told BBC Breakfast: “We want to see spades in the ground in this parliament.

“We have asked Heathrow to come forward with plans by this summer, and then we want to grant that development consent order by the end of this parliament, so we can get the diggers in the ground to get this project up and running.

“And that’s why we’re reforming the planning system to make it easier to get these sorts of projects, like the third runway at Heathrow built.”

The chancellor went on to say she is “absolutely confident” that the government can build a third runway and meet its environmental targets.

“We’ve been clear with Heathrow: We want them to bring forward plans by the summer that are consistent with those environmental and carbon targets. But the answer to new infrastructure can’t always be no.”

Reeves also insisted that Heathrow’s third runway could be built and in use by 2035. Pressed when flights would take off from the airport, the chancellor told BBC Breakfast: “I think we can get that done in a decade.”

Asked if that meant planes would be using the new runway by 2035, Reeves responded: “That is what we want to achieve and that is what Heathrow wants to achieve.”

Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.

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Rachel Reeves backs ‘badly needed’ third Heathrow Airport runway

Source: Politics

A cross-party group MPs will address Britain’s “flawed” voting system in a House of Commons debate on Thursday.

The parliamentarians, representing six parties and every region and nation of the UK, will urge the government to establish a national commission tasked with proposing a “fair and democratic replacement to First Past the Post [FPTP]”.

The backbench business debate was proposed by members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections and follows the commons vote late last year, when MPs backed a symbolic motion on proportional representation by 138 MPs to 136. Those in favour included 59 Labour MPs. 

Speaking ahead of the debate this afternoon, Labour MP and chair of the Fair Elections APPG Alex Sobel said: “I’m delighted that the House of Commons is having a full debate on Proportional Representation, following last month’s historic vote. 

“The current voting system is producing parliaments that are less and less representative of how the British people vote — and this is badly undermining trust in our political system.” 

“MPs across the divide are urging the government to set up a National Commission for Electoral Reform, to recommend a fair and democratic replacement to First Past the Post.”

The debate also follows a poll, conducted by YouGov, which recorded support for changing to a proportional voting system at 48 per cent. Conversely, just 24 per cent of those polled said they supported for maintaining the current FPTP system.

Liberal Democrat MP and APPG vice chair Lisa Smart MP said: “There is growing, deep concern about the way our electoral system distorts and denies — rather than delivers — the democratic will of the people. 

“This concern is evident both outside and inside parliament. To tackle this, I’m backing the call for a National Commission on Electoral Reform. The commission should engage fully with the voting public as an integral part of its work in coming up with the right way forward for our citizens and our democracy.”

Research into the 2024 general election by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) last year found it was the most disproportional in British history. The group noted that Labour received 63.2 per cent of House of Commons seats on just 33.7 per cent. An increase of 1.6 per cent in the party’s 2019 vote-share had seen it more than double its seats to 411.

Green Party MP and APPG vice chair Ellie Chowns said: “First Past the Post is broken. Its chief contribution to our politics is to drive instability, apathy, and disengagement. The public have made their view clear; the two-party system of old is gone, yet our voting system is keeping it on life support against their will. 

“We need our political institutions to bolster trust in politics, not contribute to undermining it. It’s time for a National Commission on Electoral Reform, to identify and implement a voting system that ensures all votes are equal and every voice is heard.”

Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.

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Source: Politics

Just three in ten Britons now say that it was right for the UK to vote to leave the EU, according to a new poll published on the eve of Brexit’s fifth anniversary. 

Three in ten, or 30%, is the lowest proportion of the public saying that Britain was right to vote to leave since polling organisation YouGov began asking the question in the aftermath of the 2016 referendum.

It compares to 55% who say it was wrong for the country to vote for Brexit in 2016.

Britain officially left the European Union on 31 January 2020, following the 2016 referendum won by “Leave” on a margin of 52% to 48%.

Five years on, new YouGov research has found that one in six Leave voters (18%) now say that it was wrong for Britain to choose to leave the EU.

66% still say Britain made the right decision. 

From YouGov: Belief that Britain was right to vote to leave the EU falls to a new low of 30%

— Josh Self (@josh-self.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T11:02:54.121Z

Just 7% of “Remainers” now think it was right for the UK to leave, compared to 88% who still think a vote for Brexit was wrong, according to YouGov’s polling.

Three-quarters of 18-24 year olds (75%), who were unable to vote in the 2016 referendum, say that Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU. That is against one in ten (10%) who say the UK made the right choice.

More than six in ten Britons (62%) say that Brexit has so far been more of a failure, versus 11% who feel that it has been more of a success.

20% of Britons consider it to be neither a success nor failure.

Leave voters are more likely to consider Brexit to have gone badly than well, with 32% labelling it more of a failure so far, compared to 22% describing it as more of a success. Four in ten Leave voters (38%) see Britain’s exit from the EU to have been neither a success nor a failure.

87% of Remain voters say Brexit has been a failure, with just 3% believing Brexit to have been a success.

Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.

Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.

Source: Politics

Rachel Reeves’ big pitch for economic growth today was always going to overshadow Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer’s weekly tussle at PMQs.

The Conservative leader’s supporters continue to laud her ability to “cut through” and catapult herself into the headlines. (Not inherently a positive trait). But there could be no competing with the chancellor’s confirmation today, after weeks of feverish speculation, that the government supports plans for a third Heathrow Airport runway.

That said, Badenoch has frequently taken the government to task on the economy as part of her weekly inquisitions — and today was another chance for the Conservative leader to hone her argument.

In this sense, Badenoch’s case is straightforward enough: she maintains that ministers are choking, not kick-starting growth. Even more remarkable then, that Badenoch’s performance today was as incoherent, tetchy and misfiring as any of her prior maladroit showings.

***This content first appeared in Politics.co.uk’s Politics@Lunch newsletter, sign-up for free and never miss our daily briefing.***

Taking to the despatch box, Badenoch began by accusing the prime minister of “destroying” growth. She referenced the “growth test” Starmer set himself on Tuesday: “If a policy is good for growth, the answer is yes. If it’s not, the answer is no”.

The Conservative leader continued: “Let’s look at the employment bill. The government’s own figures say it will cost business £5bn a year. It clearly fails the prime minister’s growth test. Will he drop it?

Starmer’s curt but effective comeback was typical of a more punchier performance this afternoon: “I think the proposition they left a golden inheritance was tested on 4 July [the general election].”

He added: “There’s more to do with reforming planning and regulation, building the new homes that we need, supporting a third runway at Heathrow. And as she admitted to the CBI in November, ‘there’s no point me just complaining about Labour’, she said. ‘It’s obvious that we Conservatives lost the confidence of business.’

“We’re not taking lectures from them.”

With this predictable response, Badenoch’s second question wrote itself — or so you would think. The prime minister had referenced business consternation about the Conservative Party’s record in government; Badenoch could hit back with more recent denouncements of Labour’s economic programme. But what followed was nothing short of bizarre.

Swerving away from her line of inquiry, Badenoch accused the prime minister of having “misled” the House of Commons last week — a significant transgression of parliamentary rules. She referred back to their exchange on schools and suggested the PM “was not on top of his own education bill.”

To accuse a prime minister of knowingly providing false information to parliament is as serious a charge as an opposition politician can level. Until the privileges committee reported in 2023, Keir Starmer never once accused his bête noire Boris Johnson of misleading the House over Partygate from the commons despatch box. But Badenoch chose to do so today, three months into her tenure as Tory leader, over the prime minister’s stance on an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The speaker, as commons rules oblige, was fast to his feet. “We can’t accuse the prime minister of misleading the House”, Sir Lindsay Hoyle insisted. “We can’t do it! I’m sure that there’s words you would prefer to use.”

Badenoch, deprived of all momentum, was forced to reconfigure her question. “Last week, he claimed to have laid down an amendment that he had not made. He doesn’t know what is going on in here or out there”, she told MPs.

Having thoroughly explored this rhetorical and political cul-de-sac — angering the speaker in the process, Badenoch returned to Labour’s proposed changes to employment rights. “This isn’t an Employment Bill, it is an unemployment bill”, she blasted.

Starmer rejected the criticism: “We believe in giving people proper dignity and protection at work, that is why we are proud of our record supporting workers.”

The Conservative leader has consistently criticised the prime minister as being a “lawyer, not a leader” — having repeated the attack line (first deployed by Boris Johnson) across successive sessions. When Badenoch mocked the employment bill as “an adventure playground for lawyers” therefore, Starmer had a comeback ready.

***This content first appeared in Politics.co.uk’s Politics@Lunch newsletter, sign-up for free and never miss our daily briefing.***

He told the House: “I understand she likes straight talking. She is talking absolute nonsense. She knows and anybody who understands anything about the bill or any employment law will know you can’t start in the morning and got to a tribunal in the afternoon.

“We know she is not a lawyer, she is clearly not a leader. If she keeps on like this she is going to be the next lettuce.”

It was a reference to the infamous Daily Star live stream, which pit a shrivelling shop-bought lettuce against then-prime minister Liz Truss in a battle to the death. As is now Westminster folklore, the lettuce triumphed.

Indeed it wasn’t even close. Six days after the Daily Star began its livestream on 14 October, Truss announced her resignation on the steps of Downing Street. It is little surprise then that Badenoch reportedly told her shadow cabinet earlier this month that she wants “Liz Truss to shut up for a while”. It came after Truss penned a “cease and desist” letter to the prime minister demanding he stop saying she crashed the economy. In PMQs last week, Starmer brandished the letter — and unapologetically repeated the accusation.

Starmer, of course, is far less keen for the name ‘Liz Truss’ and the memory of the vegetable that vanquished her to fade into obscurity. The former prime minister’s political brand remains her successor-but-one’s favourite punching bag.

Lettuce-themed attacks aside, Starmer also punished Badenoch this week for her recent comments about pensions. Badenoch’s triple lock controversy, which she triggered with an off-kilter comment on LBC, epitomises her pitfalls as a political operator. The prime minister showed real political purpose in exploiting that this afternoon.

In response to a planted question from Labour backbencher Damien Egan, Starmer said: “Let me absolutely clear Mr Speaker, there will be no means testing of the state pension under this Labour government. … [The Conservative Party] would cut pensions. We’re increasing them”.

During the frontbench exchange, Starmer added: “The only policy she’s got is to shrink pensions.”

We are still some time away from the specialists at the Daily Star brandishing a leaf vegetable at Badenoch’s expense. But her repeat poor performances at the despatch box are welcome solace for an otherwise pressured prime minister.

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Belief that Britain was right to leave the EU falls to new low of 30%, poll finds

Lunchtime soundbite

‘He knows in relation to the reset with the EU… that we have clear red lines when it comes to the single market and the customs union, so he knows where we stand on that.’

—  Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey urges the prime minister to take the UK into a Continent-wide customs deal with the EU. Keir Starmer responds as above.

Now try this…

‘Labour figures come out against chancellor’s “environmentally illiterate” plans’
PoliticsHome reports.

‘Heathrow third runway: a saga of promises, protest and U-turns’
The Guardian reports.

‘Britain’s Rachel Reeves needs a growth miracle’
All the big hurdles to an economic turnaround as the UK chancellor makes her pro-growth pitch, writes Politico’s Dan Bloom.

On this day in 2024:

Miliband hints Labour could recruit Alok Sharma, Chris Skidmore for climate mission

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Source: Politics

Sadiq Khan has said he remains opposed to the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Labour’s Mayor of Greater London expressed concerns about the “severe impact” it would have on noise, air pollution and climate change targets.

The comments came after chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed in a major speech that she would be backing proposals for Heathrow’s expansion. “A third runway is badly needed”, she insisted.

In a statement, Khan responded: “I remain opposed to a new runway at Heathrow Airport because of the severe impact it will have on noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets.

“I will scrutinise carefully any new proposals that now come forward from Heathrow, including the impact it will have on people living in the area and the huge knock-on effects for our transport infrastructure.

“Despite the progress that’s been made in the aviation sector to make it more sustainable, I’m simply not convinced that you can have hundreds of thousands of additional flights at Heathrow every year without a hugely damaging impact on our environment.”

Confirming the government’s support for a third runway on Wednesday morning after weeks of speculation, Reeves said: “I can confirm today that this government supports a third runway at Heathrow and is inviting proposals to be brought forward by the summer.

“We will then take forward a full assessment through the airport national policy statement. This will ensure that the project is value for money and our clear expectation is that any associated service transport costs will be financed through private funding.

“It will ensure that a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives.”

In 2018, Khan, city councils and environmental groups applied for a judicial review against the plans for a third runway approved by Theresa May’s then-government earlier that year.

In 2020, the Court of Appeal ruled the expansion decision was unlawful as it did not take climate commitments into account.

However, later that year the ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court after Heathrow appealed it, allowing a planning application to go ahead.

Rachel Reeves backs ‘badly needed’ third Heathrow Airport runway

Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.

Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.

Source: Politics

Rachel Reeves has announced her support for a third runway at Heathrow as she battles to get Britain’s economy back on track.

“A third runway is badly needed”, she said.

In a major speech, the chancellor also unveiled plans for nine new reservoirs, thousands of new homes in Cambridge and a “growth corridor” including road and rail upgrades to Oxford.

Reeves deployed these plans as demonstrations of the government’s commitment to economic growth.

The chancellor said: “I am not satisfied with the position that we are in. While we have huge amounts of potential, the structural problems in our economy run deep, and the low growth of the last fourteen years cannot just be turned around overnight. 

“This has to be our focus for the duration of the parliament, because the situation demands us to do more. And today, I will go further and faster in kick-starting economic growth.”

She added: “I come to the decision that perhaps more than any other, has been delayed, has been avoided, has been ducked. The question of whether to give Heathrow, our only hub airport, a third runway has run on for decades. 

“The last full length runway in Britain was built in the 1940s. No progress in 80 years. Why is this so damaging? It’s because Heathrow is at the heart of the UK’s openness as a country. It connects us to emerging markets all over the world, opening up new opportunities for growth. Around three quarters of all long haul flights in the UK go from Heathrow.

“Over 60% of UK air freight comes through Heathrow, and about 15 million business travellers used Heathrow in 2023 but for decades, its growth has been constrained. Successive studies have shown that this really matters for our economy. 

“According to the most recent study from Frontier Economics, a third runway could increase potential GDP by 0.43% by 2050. Over half, 60%, of that boost would go to areas outside of London and the South East in creating increasing trade opportunities for products like scotch whisky and Scottish salmon, already two of the biggest British exports out of Heathrow and a third runway could create over 100,000 jobs. 

“For international investors, persistent delays have cast doubt about our seriousness towards improving our economic prospects…

“I can confirm today that this government supports a third runway at Heathrow and is inviting proposals to be brought forward by the summer.

“We will then take forward a full assessment through the airport national policy statement. This will ensure that the project is value for money and our clear expectation is that any associated service transport costs will be financed through private funding.

“It will ensure that a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives.”

The speech is considered a key moment for a chancellor who has struggled with sluggish economic headwinds since she delivered the autumn budget in October last year.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.

Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest election news and analysis.

Source: Politics