Up next in 10
The contentious issue dividing Keir Starmer and Sadiq Khan | James O’Brien on LBC
Aug 2, 2025
James O'Brien asks: 'are you Team Starmer or Team Khan?'
Heathrow Airport has revealed plans for a £21 billion third runway, which could be open in a decade.
Keir Starmer and his government are backing the plans. As is James, calling the proposals ‘a whopping great statement of ambition and intent.’
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the expansion proposals as “a significant step towards unlocking growth, creating jobs, and delivering vital national infrastructure”.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says he remains opposed to a third runway “because of the severe impact it will have in terms of noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets”.
He warned that City Hall will “carefully scrutinise” the proposals, adding: “I’ll be keeping all options on the table in how we respond.”
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
#jamesobrien #uknews #ukpolitics #labour #keirstarmer #sadiqkhan #heathrow #LBC
LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.
Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/
Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
I find it fascinating. Politically, it's very interesting that Keir Starmer and Sadiq Khan are genuine loggerheads
0:06
The Mayor of London really doesn't want the third runway at Heathrow to go ahead
0:10
A sort of massive £50 billion expansion of our... Can you have a flagship airport? Is that the right way of describing it
0:17
Our sort of national airport. And Keir Starmer, it emerges today, is absolutely committed to it
0:25
A shovel-ready plan has been submitted by the airport management. that would see a two-mile-long runway cross a diverted M25
0:34
and allow more than 750 additional flights a day over London. That's a little wobble for me there on a personal level
0:42
I live in the flight path, on the flight path, and that is unlikely to get better with 750 more flights coming in
0:50
I'm tempted to do a phone-in on the importance of airports, and I don't mean that logistically
0:56
I mean it almost reputationally. about what it says to an arrival about the country you are arriving in
1:08
Do you do this a bit? Do you sort of find that your first impression of an entire country
1:12
can be based upon the airport that you land at? And if it's a little bit frayed around the edges
1:18
you step out of the terminal feeling a little bit different from how you would feel if it was shiny and new
1:28
I don't know. I've just sort of clocked myself doing that a couple of times. I remember as a kid, I didn't travel much as a kid
1:33
It wasn't really an option. It was sort of ferries and car trips to campsites in Brittany
1:39
and that was in a good year. Otherwise, it was up to my great-uncle's cottage in Filey
1:44
just outside Scarborough. But when I did go on a trip with school
1:49
and we landed at, I think, Zurich Airport, I thought I'd landed in the future
1:54
I remember being absolutely gobsmacked. There was a little place, and remember, this is going back nearly sort of 40 years or so
2:00
they had seats with their own screens. You could go and sit somewhere in the terminal
2:04
I think it was Zurich or Geneva. It was definitely in Switzerland. And you had this little lounge
2:10
where there were individual screens that you could watch. I don't think there was much on them, and it wasn't in English
2:17
But still, it was really exciting. It was like being in Star Trek. And I think that coloured my whole view of Switzerland
2:22
for the rest of my life. But then again, we're not all 10-year-old boys, are we? going on our sort of first ever airplane ride
2:28
Six minutes after 10 is the time. You land at some places in Greece where I go quite a lot
2:33
and they're pretty ramshackle, actually, but it doesn necessarily influence your entire view of the country I think and I suspect this is quite an important position
2:48
I think we need something huge and international at this point in our
2:55
what do you call it, historical cycle? I really do. I think that it is wrong of the Mayor of London
3:01
to resist the idea of a smashing great new development. Heathrow, it announces to the world that we are serious and forward-looking
3:12
And quite a few of you are reminding me of my childhood holidays in Morricamby as well
3:17
It's nice to know that my anecdotes have a little bit of a shelf life
3:21
But what is it that I'm trying to articulate? It's like the kind of brand Britain
3:28
That's a dreadful phrase, isn't it? but a brand Britain would be enormously enhanced
3:36
if the first point of arrival were to be state-of-the-art, bang-up-to-date, all bells and whistles and exciting
3:47
Is that enough reason to support it? Does it also mean that elements of the conversation
3:53
about global warming or carbon emissions or pollution have, as we've suspected on the programme a few times recently
4:01
have somehow been quietened, even among those of us who recognise the urgency of the situation
4:08
Environmental campaigners have called the Heathrow expansion a doomed scheme that would release millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide
4:16
while benefiting only a small minority of rich flyers. And that, I think, is the perfect dichotomy
4:22
Thank you, Ian, you're right. The word I'm looking for is prestige. is prestige something worth pursuing to the detriment of environment 03456060973 the idea
4:36
that if you do build a new runway it will only benefit a small number of rich people seems to me
4:42
to be close to ridiculous not least the fact that you've got minimum of 50 billion pounds worth of
4:47
investment which will go into jobs and infrastructure that people in this country will be doing so you
4:55
You've got that growth element of the proposal on this side of the scales
4:59
You've got the prestige or the announcement to the world element of the proposal
5:03
on this side of the scales. And the only thing you've really got on the other side of the scales
5:08
is nimbyism and environmental concern, which is a little bit misplaced because these planes are going to fly anyway
5:14
It just the question of where they going to land and where they going to go Nine minutes after ten is the time I don know that the question of how important is an airport quite lands yet So let change it slightly to the question of whether or not we need
5:32
in this country a whopping great statement of ambition and intent. And if we do, it's hard to
5:42
think of anything better than a new runway at Heathrow. Hello world, it says. Come fly with me
5:47
Come visitors. We are here. That's what I like. That's the phrase I want
5:51
A whopping great statement of ambition and intent. And that is why, nearly 10 minutes after 10 this morning
5:58
I find myself feeling very, very enthusiastic about the prospect of something
6:03
that at various points in the last few years I've been a little bit wobbly on
6:09
It was to go ahead, as you will remember, and then the plan was shelved temporarily
6:14
because passenger numbers went off something of a cliff during the pandemic
6:20
Big, big battles about whether or not it would go ahead. A bloke called Boris Johnson, I don't know if you remember him
6:26
promised the people of Uxbridge that he would lie down in front of the bulldozers in the event of it actually being passed
6:32
But it overcame legal challenges. It overcame political challenges as long ago as 2019
6:39
and the shareholders in the airport are looking for the legislative change they need in order to
6:46
press on. Rachel Reeves loves it, strongly endorses the expansion. Keir Starmer loves it
6:53
He is at odds with the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. That means that we can have a conversation that is
6:58
refreshingly free of political tribalism because you can be Team Starmer or Team Khan regardless
7:05
of what you are in terms of political parties. And although I'm conscious of it being a very
7:11
a potentially London-centric story, it's not because it's about national prestige. You are flying to the UK, aren't you, through Heathrow
7:21
You're not flying merely or only to London. And then I guess as someone who lives in West London
7:27
someone who lives in very much the catchment area of Heathrow, you wonder whether or not it's fair to inflict it upon us
7:35
upon the locals when the benefits will be spread so widely should the negatives be absorbed and
7:42
endured so narrowly so there's lots to talk about here and um and the central question for me at
7:48
least you may move the conversation away in a different direction for me at least the central
7:52
question is whether or not the the statement of ambition and intent the international statement of ambition and intent is a valuable enough prize to absorb and negate all the negatives and i i i pretty sure it is um what do you reckon and and do you do you agree do you
8:14
agree with this idea that the country needs a sort of an announcement a big banner a sort of
8:22
a flagship development, a prestige project at the moment in order to perhaps just muster up, if you like
8:30
a sense of forward thinkingness and ambition. 0345 6060 973 is the number that you need
8:41
Steve points out that it's a very interesting conversation to be having on a day when floods and fires are dominating other elements of the news
8:48
And he is absolutely right. There is the tension here between progress and environment
8:57
And that's quite an odd dichotomy to draw, isn't it? Because you would have thought that environmental change
9:02
or environmental improvement would get filed under progress. And in many ways it does
9:07
But announcing to the world that we are open for business, that we're capable of delivering massive prestigious projects
9:12
and that we are looking to the future is strangely at odds with the idea that we shouldn't do it
9:22
because we're worried about the environmental impact. I genuinely want to know what you think
9:27
I don't think there's a right answer or a wrong answer to this. I also recognise the pessimism of any project
9:32
that involves massive infrastructure and investment in this country with HS2 so fresh in our memories
9:37
But does that mean we give up forever? Does that mean that we consign ourselves to a future of pedestrianism and sort of second-class structures when we should really be trying to lead, or at least look like, a major player on the international stage
9:53
Consider it a seed that gets sown. And from what grows from that seed, goodness only knows
9:58
So, simple question. Keir Starmer and Sadiq Khan are at odds over a third runway for Heathrow
10:06
the majority that the Prime Minister enjoys in Parliament is easily big enough for him to force through the necessary legislation
10:13
Sadiq Khan has said he will oppose it furiously, and that particularly for net zero reasons
10:20
and that the possibility of a legal challenge next year would delay expansion by years
10:26
I think Starmer can sidestep that with legislation. So, which side are you on
10:31
It's not footballification, is it? Because they're both Labour politicians. Do we need a bigger, better national airport, national hub airport
10:41
And if we do, we're better where else to put it than Heathrow
#Government
#news
#Politics
#Public Policy