Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband will find the government’s support for a third Heathrow runway “uncomfortable” but he won’t cause any “disruption”, Harriet Harman has said.
The Labour peer told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast Mr Miliband is a “green conscience” in the cabinet “but we’ve been here before”.
Baroness Harman was a cabinet minister alongside Mr Miliband in Gordon Brown’s government when they approved an expansion in 2009, saying it was needed for economic reasons.
Mr Miliband had threatened to resign as energy and climate secretary over the plans but, in the end, he did not do so.
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Ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing the government’s support of a third runway on Wednesday, Mr Miliband had said he would not resign if they backed an expansion.
“Ed Miliband really is the sort of green conscience in cabinet,” she said.
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“But we’ve been here. Ed Miliband has been in this situation before.
“Obviously it’s no secret to anybody that Ed Miliband was against it at that time.
“But he stuck with collective responsibility when it came to a free vote on Heathrow.
“Later, when we were in opposition, Ed Miliband, you know, voted against it. But he’s very collaborative and he will remain part of the team.”
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She added Mr Miliband “actually brought Keir Starmer into politics” and supported him for the leadership.
He will find the support for a third runway “uncomfortable”, Baroness Harman said.
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“But he will be saying ‘if you’re going to do Heathrow, we better flipping well actually improve a lot of the other green things we’re doing and bring them forward’,” she added.
“So, I think he will stay in government, play a very important role for the green agenda, and I don’t think there will be a disruption.”
