British finance minister Rachel Reeves spelled out her plans to revive the country's slow-moving economy on Wednesday, adding to recent pledges to reform investment and planning rules with a commitment to back airport expansion at Heathrow.

ANALYSIS: A leading eco-campaigner has already condemned Labour as 'worse than the Tories' and the Greens are ready to strike in key constituencies

The chancellor says the expansion of Europe's busiest airport is "badly needed" - but the Green Party's Sian Berry calls it "the most irresponsible announcement from any government I have seen since the Liz Truss budget".

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’s optimistic economic growth vision hit in the short term as Tesco and Lloyds announce hundreds of job losses and she admits fixing the economy is ‘not an easy job’

Rachel Reeves is set to announce a series of major infrastructure projects in a speech in which she is also expected to back plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The chancellor will outline plans to create "Europe's Silicon Valley" between Oxford and Cambridge,

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.