ANDY Burnham flew from London to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, before jetting back down to Manchester shortly after.
The new Labour chief took his prime ministerial jet on the short journeys, which would have taken around four and a half hours and a little over three hours respectively as railway trips.
Burnham's plane left Manchester on Friday morning before his Number 10 North opening, suggesting he'll be taking the Avanti West Coast back down to London.
On Thursday, Burnham flew from Stanstead to Glasgow, with a flight time of just 55 minutes. On Friday, the trip down to Manchester was a lean 38 minutes.
An official told the Guido Fawkes website: “He seems to have misunderstood that the plane is not called GBNI because it just flies around GBNI.”
The Prime Minister is expected to work at Number 10 North, at Heron House in Manchester, once each week during his premiership
Guido calculated that the cost of Burnham flying to Number 10 North weekly would be around £10 million a year.
Scottish Greens spokesperson for Transport, Patrick Harvie MSP said: “Andy Burnham was careful to stage-manage his arrival in London by train after the Makerfield by-election, and if that was anything more than for show he should be sticking to train travel as PM.
“For a journey between two cities with frequent rail connections, people will rightly ask why flying was considered necessary. At a time when we are seeing the effects of heatwaves and wildfires, the new Prime Minister should be leading by example.”
“The big question however, if Andy Burnham wants any credibility in tackling the climate crisis, is whether he will confound the extremists in the right wing parties by ruling out the expansion of fossil fuels at Rosebank and Jackdaw, and commit to accelerate a just transition to net zero.”
A spokesperson for the UK Government said: “Government aircraft are used in line with the Ministerial Code and long-standing rules governing official travel.
"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.”
Burnham meanwhile described opening his new Manchester 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 political career.
He 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 Number 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.”
