British finance minister Rachel Reeves spelled out her plans to revive the country's slow-moving economy on Wednesday, adding to recent pledges to reform investment and planning rules with a commitment to back airport expansion at Heathrow.

It comes as Rachel Reeves insisted she would not resign despite a wave of criticism over decisions such as the National Insurance increase, inheritance tax on family farms and winter fuel payment means-testing, as well as poor economic growth with the economy growing by just 0.1% in November.

Chancellor’s optimistic economic growth vision hit in the short term as Tesco and Lloyds announce hundreds of job losses and she admits fixing the economy is ‘not an easy job’

By Andrew MacAskill EYNSHAM, England (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday that the government supported the construction of a long-delayed new runway at London's Heathrow Airport as she sought to show she could deliver on her promises of speeding up economic growth.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has backed a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport as part of a fresh plan to get the UK's sluggish economy growing. She said Heathrow expansion, which has been delayed for decades over environmental concerns,