Sir Keir Starmer’s past has come back to haunt him (Image: PA )
Old social media posts can come back to haunt us all – is no exception as it’s emerged Sir boasted about voting to block Heathrow expansion.
celebrated a legal victory for environmental campaigners against plans for a third runway at Europe’s busiest airport.
Sharing an article by the Guardian in 2020, he wrote: “Congratulations to the climate campaigners. There is no more important challenge than the climate emergency. That is why I voted against Heathrow expansion.”
Sir Keir, who was running to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour party at the time of his post, could be somewhat red-faced now as the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced his government was now backing plans to expand London’s biggest air travel hub.
Worried by a nose-diving economy, Ms Reeves said the Britain will stagnate if you “always give in” to objections about new infrastructure projects.
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Sir Keir Starmer’s post on X celebrating the blocking of Heathrow expansion (Image: X)
And discussing a timeline for completion on Breakfast this morning, she said: “I think we can get that done in a decade.”
Pressed whether this meant planes would be using it by 2035, Ms Reeves responded: “That is what we want to achieve and that is what Heathrow wants to achieve.”
But as Sir Keir’s historical X post reveals, previous plans for expansion of Heathrow have been dogged for years by legal challenges from environmental campaigners.
Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who won a third term in 2024 on a platform of opposing airport expansion in the capital, has said his views “haven’t changed”.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has also previously vehemently criticised proposals for a bigger Heathrow but last week said he would not resign if the Government backed a third runway.
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The Chancellor announced a Heathrow expansion plan this week (Image: PA )
Asked about Mr Khan’s objections, the Chancellor told LBC: “I have huge respect for Sadiq, but on this I know that sustainable aviation and economic growth can, and do, go hand-in-hand.
“The way that we fly has changed hugely in recent years, engines have become so much more efficient, reducing carbon emissions and also sustainable aviation fuel is changing the way that we fly with a mandate that came in at the beginning of this year.”
Asked whether Energy Secretary Ed Miliband was fully behind the plans, Ms Reeves replied: “Yes, we are all united as a Cabinet backing these plans.
“We know that we have to grow our economy, we can’t keep saying no to big infrastructure projects.”
In December last year, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said the UK needed to decide if it wanted a third runway “relatively fast” because “we cannot keep on spending money on this”.
He adds: “If that answer is yes, then let’s sit down and agree on the conditions that need to be true.”
Rachel Reeves has gone against London’s Mayor with plans for an expansion to Heathrow (Image: PA )