Britain’s government has backed a tortured effort to build a third runway at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, throwing its weight behind a decades-old proposal that has been beset by political, legal and environmental challenges.

After the prime minister promised to clear 'regulatory weeds' form the economy, chancellor Rachel Reeves has given the nod to plans to expand Heathrow Airport.

It is the rich and the corporations who will take the lion’s share of the benefits from Labour’s and all airport expansions, while the poorest around the world pay the costs.

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.

In a major growth speech in Oxfordshire, Reeves said that a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport was "badly needed," adding it would boost investment, support economic expans