Prime Minister Andy Burnham flew from the Cop31 climate summit in Antalya to the European Political Community meeting in Dublin on Thursday, taking his total to more than 22,500 taxpayer-funded air miles in 115 days in office, GB News has revealed.
Burnham, the only G7 leader to attend Cop31, spent about 14 hours on the ground in Turkey before flying on to the Irish capital: almost 4,000 miles in just over 24 hours to deliver a 764-word speech. In it, he declared that the “climate crisis is not a distant threat,” and said: “We’re committed to meeting our 2050 net zero target and committed to working with all of our partners to reach theirs.” The channel labelled him “Air Miles Andy.”
The journeys since he entered Downing Street in July include a round trip of about 1,900 miles to Kyiv, almost 6,900 miles to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and about 1,200 miles to Berlin. His longest trip was to Antigua this month for the Commonwealth summit, about 8,600 miles. For that journey, the jet flew from Stansted to Manchester to collect him, without the prime minister on board.
The cost of the prime minister’s travel has not yet been published; the figures are released quarterly. By comparison, a trip to Armenia by his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, cost £121,654. The channel estimated that Burnham’s taxpayer-funded jet has produced around 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide since he took office, a figure based on the channel’s own calculation rather than an official total.
Conservative MP Neil O’Brien said: “We are all having to pay massive taxes on our energy and fuel bills so that this Government can posture, but when it comes to them, the rules seem to be completely different. Loads of taxpayers’ money and jet fuel is going up in smoke so that he can deliver a speech of a minute or two to a half-empty room in the hopes of striking some sort of green pose.”
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson said: “Just like Miliband, he’s flying around the world, polluting the atmosphere whilst telling us all to reduce our carbon emissions.”
Downing Street said Burnham feels it is “extremely important” to meet leaders on climate. Before taking office, he said: “Let’s fix our own country.”
