Miliband has the morning round and has been naturally been asked about Heathrow expansion. Something Ed pushed back on in Cabinet when Reeves blindsided colleagues with upgraded plans…
The energy secretary has tacitly admitted his opposition to the plans on Sky News: “Well obviously I abide by collective responsibility… tempting as it is to give you a running commentary on our cabinet discussions I’m not, I’m not going to do that.” He fired the usual warning shot at Reeves:
“What the government’s done – I do support what the government is doing – which is that we’ve asked Heathrow to come forward with their plans but it’s really important to say that these have got to meet strict carbon budgets and local environmental standards – and then an assessment will be made about whether a third runway can do that.”
As long as Jolyon doesn’t actually get involved Miliband and Khan may end up successfully blocking airport expansion. When it came to the Rosebank oilfield, the energy secretary would only say “we’re going to go through proper due process.” On that issue it will not be hard for Miliband to corral the Labour Party against Reeves and Starmer when it comes to a showdown…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”