--- title: "Burnham would have to rein in Miliband as chancellor, says airline boss" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/292097450.md" description: "Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy warns Andy Burnham to control Ed Miliband if appointed chancellor, cautioning that high taxes and green levies could raise airfares and reduce travel demand. He urged the PM to assert authority over economic policy, citing Jet2's £50m cost increase from National Insurance and fuel mandates. Despite challenges, bookings remain strong due to heatwaves and post-ceasefire demand." datetime: "2026-07-08T16:52:57.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/292097450.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/292097450.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/292097450.md) --- # Burnham would have to rein in Miliband as chancellor, says airline boss Andy Burnham must keep Ed Miliband on a short leash should he appoint him as chancellor, the boss of Britain’s most prominent tour operator has warned. Steve Heapy, the chief executive of Jet2, said further increases in the tax burden under Sir Keir Starmer’s expected successor risked pushing up air fares and triggering a slump in travel demand. He appealed to Mr Burnham to abandon an approach of treating the aviation and tourism sector as a “cash cow” that he said had prevailed under Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves. He said: “I would caution against continuing the policy of taxing the industry. Taxes increase the price of flying, and I’m sure the last thing the future prime minister wants is to price people out of the ability to go on holiday. “Even prime ministers can’t change the fundamental laws of economics. As the price of something continues to go up, then demand will fall.” Mr Heapy said Jet2 had incurred £50m in additional costs because of rising National Insurance contributions and regulations mandating the use of green aviation fuel. This caused a 2pc fall in operating profit in the year to the end of March despite record revenue and passenger numbers. Asked about the prospect of Ms Reeves being replaced as chancellor by Mr Miliband, who has opposed airport expansion and has imposed tough green levies, Mr Heapy said economic and financial policy should be “driven very much by Andy Burnham and not Ed Miliband”. He said: “I could spend a lot of mental energy going through the various candidates for chancellor and what the impacts might be. But the prime minister is still responsible for all economic policy and the chancellor reports to the prime minister.” Mr Heapy urged the former Manchester mayor to follow Margaret Thatcher’s lead by quickly asserting his authority over the Treasury. He pointed to the inscription “First Lord of the Treasury” on the letterbox of No 10 – a reference to the Prime Minister’s original title – which Thatcher had restored when she entered Downing Street. Mr Heapy said the next prime minister must establish a “credible, sizeable” sustainable aviation fuel industry in the UK to ensure that airlines can meet mandates to use the scarce and costly substance as part of a net zero drive enforced by Mr Miliband. He said steps must also be taken to enforce the modernisation of flightpaths that could cut CO2 emissions by 14pc but which have been moving at a pace “slightly less than glacial”. Despite the challenges facing the airline sector, Mr Heapy said bookings had picked up since the fragile ceasefire in the war in Iran. He said demand was growing fastest for destinations that people had been avoiding, such as Turkey, Cyprus and North Africa, indicating a likely late-summer surge once the World Cup is over. Mr Heapy added that the European heatwave was not putting people off booking Jet2 flights and package holidays even in the hottest countries. He said: “It’s probably a positive impact. People go away for the sun. I live in the north of England where we have about two and a half sunny days a year, and we’ve had them now. “I think a heatwave is very often seen as a very good thing. It’s not having any impact at all on our bookings, and our customers are relishing the fact that they can go to a nice dry heat.” ### Related Stocks - [JET2.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JET2.UK.md) ## Related News & Research - [Jet2 PLC Says Booked-To-Date Passengers For Summer Are Up 7.1%](https://longbridge.com/en/news/292023193.md) - [Jet2 hosts Greek tourism industry summit in Athens to strengthen partnerships](https://longbridge.com/en/news/290958215.md) - [Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Hilltop Holdings Inc. $HTH](https://longbridge.com/en/news/293840387.md) - [Jet2 PLC (DRTGF) Receives a Buy from UBS](https://longbridge.com/en/news/291773187.md) - [Jet2 plc (LON:JET2) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages](https://longbridge.com/en/news/283243254.md)