Andy Burnham speaks to sparse audience at COP31 climate summit

Andy Burnham delivered a speech to a half-empty hall at the COP31 climate gathering in Turkey, the Daily Mail reported. The hall remained largely empty despite 100,000 delegates attending the summit. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and London Mayor Lord Khan were present in the audience. [1]

The speech lasted six minutes and focused on climate action. According to the Daily Mail, Burnham stated that he wanted a new era of British leadership over the next decade. He warned attendees that the climate crisis is upon all of us now, following a summer marked by extreme heat, wildfires, and drought. [1]

Lord Khan has served as Mayor of London since 2016 and was elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2026. As FTMQ News reported earlier, his administration recently oversaw the permanent closure of a section of Oxford Street to vehicle traffic and issued a high air pollution alert for London following dense fog. [3][6][7]

Burnham previously headed to the summit as critics questioned his climate credentials, the Financial Times reported. [2]