Burnham casts fresh doubt over Heathrow third runway as 2039 delay confirmed on eve of Labour conference

Andy Burnham has privately told MPs he has always opposed Heathrow expansion, The Sun on Sunday reports, plunging the £49bn third-runway project into fresh doubt just as Labour assembles for its annual conference in Liverpool.

The newspaper reports that Burnham told party colleagues: “He said he’s never been in favour of Heathrow expansion, but he’s not indicated one way or another what he will do now,” citing a Labour MP who spoke to The Financial Times.

The fresh doubt comes as airport chiefs told ministers they cannot hit the 2035 target for the runway to be operational, pushing the opening back to 2039. The government this weekend conceded that “the timeline has always been ambitious”, The Times reports.

Reform UK Treasury chief Robert Jenrick slammed the hold-up. He told The Sun on Sunday: “This is a huge blow to the British economy. A third runway would bring thousands of well-paid jobs — we cannot afford any more delays. If Andy Burnham does not pass emergency legislation to make it happen, a Reform government will.”

Burnham had previously been critical of the scheme while mayor of Greater Manchester, The Times reports, but is now said to be “open-minded” about whether it should go ahead. One source told the paper he is unlikely to make his feelings public until after the Holborn & St Pancras by-election on October 8, triggered by Starmer standing down as the London constituency’s MP.

The £49bn enlargement — which would involve demolishing hundreds of homes and rerouting the M25 — was first approved by ex-PM Gordon Brown in 2009 and is projected to be worth £1.4bn a year to the economy and create 100,000 jobs.

Heathrow still hopes to secure planning permission by 2029, after which the runway would “be open within a decade”, an airport spokesman said. The draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement was published for consultation in June, and a parliamentary vote that had been earmarked for this autumn may now slip to January 2027.

Sources

• The Sun on Sunday: Fury as Heathrow’s third runway delayed by another four years in ‘huge blow to British economy’
• The Times: Heathrow’s third runway to be delayed until 2039
• Sky News: Heathrow Airport’s third runway delayed for four years until 2039
• PA Media: Heathrow’s third runway delayed until 2039