'Whatever means necessary!' Sadiq Khan vows to BLOCK Rachel Reeves's growth plan as Keir Starmer faces Heathrow revolt

Khan even hinted at City Hall going through the courts to challenge the proposed expansion.

Speaking to the BBC, Khan said: “When Heathrow comes out with their plans, as I’m sure they inevitably will, we will scrutinise them carefully.

"And we’ll have to hold the Government to task about them supporting a plan that doesn’t address the three concerns I’ve set out.”

The Mayor of London added: “We will use whatever means we can.”

During the Chancellor's growth speech in Oxfordshire earlier today, Reeves announced several infrastructure projects, including a regeneration of Manchester United's home ground Old Trafford and the reopening of Doncaster-Sheffield Airport.

Confirming her support for an expansion at Heathrow Airport, Reeves said: “I have always been clear that a third runway at Heathrow would unlock growth boost investment and increase exports and make the UK more open and connected, and now the case is stronger than ever.”

However, Reeves has faced accusations of hypocrisy after opposing Leeds Bradford’s £150million expansion proposal in 2020.

A number of Labour MPs publicly voted against expanding Heathrow in 2018, including Sir Keir Starmer.

Speaking out against the proposal at the time, the Prime Minister said: "There is no more important challenge than the climate emergency."

Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband added: "We owe it to future generations not just to have good environmental principles but to act on them.

"That is why I will be voting against the third runway at Heathrow."

Just hours after claiming the Government would not support the Heathrow expansion plan if it risked climate targets, Miliband seemingly snubbed Reeves's announcement in Oxfordshire today, later opting to also skip Prime Minister's Questions.

Despite the former Labour leader threatening to resign over any expansion of the airport in 2009, Miliband last week claimed such a stand would now be "ridiculous".

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander also appears to have completed a full U-turn since her time as Khan's Deputy Mayor for Transport.

Having opposed any expansion at Heathrow during her stint in City Hall, Alexander said that the plans would now have to “be delivered in line with the UK’s legal, climate, and environmental obligations” to go ahead.

Despite outrage from certain corners of the Labour Party over the Heathrow expansion, a new opinion poll has found that 56 per cent of Londoners support adding a third runway to Britain's largest airport.

The proportion of Londoners opposing a third runway at Heathrow stands at around 25 per cent, with 19 per cent of residents in the capital remaining undecided.