Burnham Declines to Support Plan for Third Runway at Heathrow

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham suggested he could block plans for a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport that were approved by his predecessor, Keir Starmer.

“There’s been a consultation on it and it’s a contested issue,” Burnham told the BBC in an interview on Sunday ahead of Labour’s annual party conference in Liverpool. Asked repeatedly to say if he supported a third runway at Heathrow, Burnham declined to do so.

“Principally, it’s a matter for London. I think you’ve got to hear the voice of people there,” he said. “I think it’s right that we hear what people have said through the consultation,” he said. “There are different views and you have to take those views seriously in coming to a decision.”

Starmer’s government last year approved Heathrow’s £49 billion ($65 billion) expansion plan, which includes building a third runway, as part of its efforts to show it was committed to boosting Britain’s economic growth.

The concept of a third runway has been floated for decades, with past governments either backing or blocking the expansion proposal. It’s become a controversial topic in the capital, not least because the current plan requires burying part of a major highway near London and demolishing hundreds of homes in the area.