LABOUR’S economic growth plans hit fresh turbulence today as Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced government backing for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

The move, which appears to fly in the face of Labour’s climate commitments, was opposed by a range of politicians and environmental campaigners, although welcomed by some trade unions.

Ms Reeves also announced state support for an Oxford-Cambridge “growth arc” and for investment in Manchester’s Old Trafford area.

Her statement was backed in the Commons by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who said that the Chancellor had “embraced a series of Conservative policies.”

But it may split the cabinet. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, a champion of climate action, was conspicuously absent from Ms Reeves’s speech.

Leading the critics was London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who restated his opposition to expanding Heathrow “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.

“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.”

Left MP John McDonnell, whose constituency abuts the airport, warned: “This is such a huge political, economic and especially environmental mistake that sadly I fear it will inflict an irreparable scale of damage on the government.”

Ms Reeves and Sir Keir have now committed to a course of disregarding almost any other consideration in order to chase elusive growth.

The Chancellor said her decision was necessary “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.

“But for decades, its growth has been constrained. This really matters for our economy.”

Plans to give effect to this long-debated expansion are to be agreed in the summer and will be “in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives,” she claimed.

Among unions welcoming the move, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said a “third runway at Heathrow must be about more than just infrastructure — it’s about investing in the workforce and securing the future of good, unionised jobs.

“These projects must deliver real opportunities for highly skilled, well-paid employment that puts money back into working families and local communities.”

But Ms Graham also said that “for the government to support the redevelopment of Old Trafford at the same time as Manchester United’s joint owner billionaire Jim Ratcliffe is ploughing ahead with Grangemouth’s closure, is either tin-eared or inept.”

She added: “The fact is that bending the knee to global billionaires, ‘unleashing’ corporate greed, has not delivered investment.

“To rebuild, we need to shift the dial of economic power back to the people.

“The tried and tested route to do that is collective bargaining in our workplaces. That’s why this Employment Bill is so critical.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak also backed the third runway but added that ministers must “ensure that legal obligations on net zero are met” and that the expansion “is delivered in partnership with unions.”

GMB regional organiser Perry Phillips applauded “the government’s decision and the thousands of good, unionised jobs and apprenticeships the project will create.”

Ms Reeves also refused to rule out further tax rises in her financial statement in March, saying only that the Treasury’s notorious debt rules are “non-negotiable.”

Left MP Jon Trickett called for breaking with “the ideological death grip of Treasury orthodoxy which has left the country on its knees.”

He added that Ms Reeves should “acknowledge that the market creates social problems faster than it resolves them.”

And Young Communist League general secretary Georgina Andrews said: “Britain’s Labour relies on capitalist market forces to resolve the very crises they helped create in living standards, housing, the NHS, social care, transport, pollution and the economy generally.”