Miliband won't resign over third runway at Heathrow

Energy secretary vowed to vote against expansion in 2018

- KATE DEVLIN

Ed Miliband has ruled out resigning as energy secretary if Rachel Reeves backs a third runway at Heathrow - despite his previous objections.

More than a decade ago, Mr Miliband reportedly threatened to quit Gordon Brown’s cabinet if the then Labour government supported the airport’s expansion. And in 2018 he said he would vote against another runway in the House of Commons, because “we owe it to future generations not just to have good environmental principles but to act on them”.

But asked yesterday if he would consider handing in his resignation if the government gives the go-ahead, Mr Miliband said: “Don’t be ridiculous, no. The whole of the government is focused, and I’m focused, on delivering our clean energy mission as part of what we need to do as a country, as part of the prime minister’s mission and as part of meeting our economic growth mission – our number one priority.”