Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Heathrow expansion should be ‘anathema’ to Burnham as study suggests 15,000 regional job losses by 2050
A plane flies past a "Stop Heathrow Expansion" sign on Zealand Avenue in Harmondsworth, west London, one of the villages which would be affected by the expansion of Heathrow Airport, January 21, 2025

EXPANDING Heathrow airport will take more than 15,000 jobs from other regions in Britain, analysis of Department for Transport (DfT) figures suggests.

Birmingham airport would lose about 9,500 while 6,400 at other London and south-east airports would also go to Heathrow instead by 2050, according to the New Economics Foundation’s (NEF).

NEF head of economic policy Alex Chapman said: “The third runway will take spending out of the places that need it most – anathema to what Burnham stands for.”

Mr Burnham has said that too much infrastructure spend goes on the south of England and has promised to rebalance spending with a No 10 North.

A DfT spokesperson said: “This analysis doesn’t factor in the potential for over 60,000 local jobs that Heathrow expansion will bring.

“The benefits will be felt across the UK, with up to 40 per cent of the £2.6 billion boost to the economy outside of London and the south-east.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a visit to Malloy Aeronautics in Berkshire following the publication of the long-delayed defence investment plan, June 30, 2026
Warfare / 2 July 2026
2 July 2026

Government's plan means ‘extra cash for war and overseas interventions, but less for schools and hospitals,’ Unison general secretary Andrea Egan warns