Ed Miliband suggests Heathrow expansion may not go ahead if it breaches net zero targets

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Ed Miliband has said any expansion of Heathrow airport or other aviation projects must fall within the UK’s carbon budget as he leads the push for net zero. During the session of the environmental audit committee, Ms Chowns rounded on Mr Miliband over the apparent incompatibility between his plans to reduce carbon emissions and chancellor Rachel Reeves’s push for economic growth. open image in gallery Ed Miliband at Monday’s environmental audit committee The chancellor said: “When we say growth is the number one issue for this government, we mean it and that means it trumps other things.” Mr Miliband’s grilling over Heathrow came as Ms Reeves faced dissent at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party from Brentford and Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury, who has been a longstanding opponent of a third runway in west London. Ms Chowns asked: “Would you agree that major infrastructure investment decisions or permission decisions such as, for example, airport expansion should not be taken before we get the forthcoming advice this month from the and that such policies such as airport expansion are, as the previously said, incompatible with meeting the targets we already have?” open image in gallery There has been speculation that a third runway at Heathrow airport could be confirmed by Ms Reeves this week Mr Miliband responded: “Our goal is neither, on the one hand, to stop people going on holiday or the economy getting what it needs, nor is it business as usual, as if climate change is not a problem.