Plans to expand London's other airports are already further along than Heathrow's and have in the past been viewed as an alternative to a third Heathrow runway. Work is set to start this year to expand capacity at Stansted's terminal. The government is due to make a decision on Gatwick airport by 27 February.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to back the expansion of Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, turning to the country's most controversial infrastructure project in her hunt for economic growth.

Rachel Reeves has rejected criticism of the Government’s support to expand Heathrow Airport after she set out plans to remove barriers to growth in the hope of kickstarting the UK’s stuttering economy.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has backed a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport as part of a fresh plan to get the UK's sluggish economy growing. She said Heathrow expansion, which has been delayed for decades over environmental concerns, would "make Britain the world's best connected place to do business".

Chancellor also vows bat tunnels will not be used in UK infrastructure projects as she defends new growth measures

Reeves told the BBC she wanted to see "spades in the ground" in the current Parliament and planes to start using the runway by 2035. She also said that Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London who is opposed to Heathrow's expansion,

The Chancellor's plans to build a third runway at Heathrow could turn great swathes of the English countryside into "noise sewers", campaigners claim.