No 10 defends flight to Caribbean going via Manchester to pick up Burnham

Critics decry ‘Air Miles Andy’ after plane that took off from Stansted diverted to collect prime minister and wife

A government-chartered plane taking Andy Burnham to a Commonwealth summit in the Caribbean made a stop-off in Manchester to collect him, Downing Street has said.

The decision, which will have been more financially and environmentally costly than if the prime minister had travelled to London, leaves him open to accusations of hypocrisy after Labour repeatedly criticised Rishi Sunak for his use of private planes and helicopters for domestic travel when he was the prime minister.

The plane, which the government leases for prime ministerial travel, left Stansted airport outside London at about 6am on Monday en route to Antigua and Barbuda, where the Commonwealth heads of government summit begins on Tuesday.