Andy Burnham criticised for using private jet to travel from Glasgow to Manchester

The new Prime Minister used an Airbus 321 to fly from London Stansted to Glasgow at 12.45pm on Thursday to attend the opening ceremony of the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. During his visit to Glasgow he also met with Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander and First Minister John Swinney.

He then used the plane to travel from Glasgow to Manchester on Friday morning - a journey of just 38 minutes.

It is estimated this could cost taxpayers around £3,000 and produce 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

A spokesman for the UK government said: “Government aircraft are used in line with the ministerial code and longstanding rules governing official travel.

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“The government will always seek to ensure ministers can carry out their duties effectively while delivering value for money for taxpayers.

“As with previous administrations, appropriate transport is used where necessary to meet operational, security and scheduling requirements.”

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake has accused Mr Burnham of hypocrisy, as the Labour Party has criticised former prime ministers for using private jets.

He said: “He has ministers in his cabinet who attacked previous prime ministers for doing exactly this.

“To add insult to injury, his own energy wants to tax people more to stop them flying. If this is how the Prime Minister is going to travel to Number 10 North, then the cost of this project really will be sky high.”

Back in 2023, former chancellor Rachel Reeves promised Labour would curb the use of private jets for ministers after attacking former prime minister Rishi Sunak for his “private jet habit”. Mr Sunak defended his use of private planes for domestic travel as it was the most effective use of his time.

The ministerial code states that private jets should only be used when no other alternative is available.

The Prime Minister is expected to work at No 10 North, at Heron House in Manchester, once each week during his premiership, as part of his move to push power out of Westminster.

He described opening the new base as the “best day of my life” as he spoke to staff and ministers there on Friday morning, and said it was a “full circle” experience for him, as he had to leave the North West to start his career.

Mr Burnham added: “And it’s true of places all over the country to get on in life, you had to leave where you where you were because things weren’t here.

“The country has always been a little like that, hasn’t it?

“That opportunity has not been evenly spread around the country, and not all places have felt that they are part of the national story, and that is what this government is going to work every single day to change.

“And that is what No 10 North is all about: putting power in every postcode so that people can turn things around for themselves and make changes, just as this great city has done, and the other English cities are doing through devolution, turning things round because of that ability to be able to do more for themselves.”

The Prime Minister insisted No 10 North was key to getting “good growth going in every part of the country”.

He added: “I mean it when I say every postcode, everybody. That’s what we’ve got to do. Nowhere forgotten, everywhere feeling heard, everyone with a sense that their place can be more than it is today.

“High streets lifted around the country, Britain reindustrialised, getting those good jobs back into all of our regions. We’ve got such an opportunity, everybody, ahead of us. I said I wanted to get Britain believing again. Today is a day where we hopefully can really build that sense. Get Britain hoping again.

“I think we can we can do that together if we carry on working in this in this way. So it is such a such an amazing moment for me. It’s everything I believe in. Everything I’ve spent my whole life working towards.”

Mr Burnham also spoke about wanting to create a “one-team feeling” across the whole of the UK, and insisted No 10 North was “as much for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as it is for the regions of England”.

“If we get that feeling, then I think so much is possible that doesn’t feel possible right now, and we can really get the energy flowing right around the country,” he said.

Mr Burnham met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday with First Minister John Swinney, and told him that another independence referendum is “off limits”.

He also met with Wales’s First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth in Glasgow, who pushed for the Welsh Government to be given the same devolved powers as those available to Scotland, including over rail, policing, justice and the Crown Estate.

Concluding his speech at No 10 North, Mr Burnham railed against critics – “often London based” – who he claimed will see the project as a “gimmick”.

The Prime Minister added: “What does it cost for everybody to troop down to London every time there’s a meeting when you need to make an argument about something?

“What does that cost? So actually, isn’t it better that we have a north pole that balances the south pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated?

“At least it creates that sense of a more balanced country, and that big things can be done from here.”

Among those who joined Mr Burnham at No 10 North, a building which is also home to GCHQ’s Manchester and North West hub, were senior ministers Chancellor John Healey, First Secretary of State Louise Haigh, and the country’s top civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo.