Reeves’s Heathrow third runway report was commissioned by London airport

Chancellor Rachel Reeves was challenged by green groups that a third runway would benefit the UK economy. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Reuters

Rachel Reeves was facing criticism on Saturday night as it was confirmed that a report she cited as evidence that a third ­runway at Heathrow would boost the UK economy was commissioned by the airport itself.

Experts and green groups also challenged Reeves’s view that advances in the production of ­sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) had been a “gamechanger” that would substantially limit the environmental damage of flying, ­saying the claims were overblown and did not stand up to scrutiny.