In her address, Reeves detailed job creation activity linked to a third runway at Heathrow Airport, redevelopment of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium community, the Oxford-Cambridge corridor and the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

The aftermath of Reeves’s speech has already seen the Green Party criticise provisions for supporting the UK’s airports’ expansion as “reckless”.

The chancellor has backed a third runway at Heathrow Airport, saying it was “badly needed”, could create 100,000 jobs, and that she wanted “proposals to be brought forward by the summer”.

Reeves went on to say the government is also “backing [Mayor of Greater Manchester] Andy Burnham’s plans for the redevelopment of [Manchester United’s] Old Trafford, which promises to create new housing and commercial development around a new stadium”.

She supported the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport in South Yorkshire, saying: “We will work with Doncaster Council and the Mayor of South Yorkshire Oliver Coppard to support their efforts to recreate South Yorkshire airport city as a thriving regional airport.” The proposal has come under fire from climate groups, who say the reopening could further damage the environment.

Reeves also has endorsed the “Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor”, saying the government would back a series of projects to create the “Silicon Valley of Europe”. These projects would include highway improvements between Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

In other job-related comments, Reeves confirmed there’ll be a reform of the welfare system, with a focus of disability benefits, unveiled ahead of her Spring Statement on 26 March.

More than 500,000 people are not working due to long-term sickness than before the pandemic.

“Low growth is not our destiny, but growth will not come without a fight, without a government willing to take the right decisions now to change our country’s future for the better,” she said.

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