Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements etc.) Regulations 2025

Lord Rogan Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Rogan (UUP)]

My Lords, I will speak about the Northern Ireland aspect of this. Any legislative changes aimed at increasing competition in the airline industry and allowing smaller airlines to enter the market are to be welcomed. However, I am sure I speak for all Northern Ireland Peers when I say that more competition—and many more services, particularly between Belfast and London—is not a luxury but an absolute necessity. We have no other means of getting here other than the ferry.

Getting flights at short notice and at an affordable price is becoming difficult to the point of impossibility. As we know, parliamentary business changes all the time and being able to contribute to debates and attend other meetings is a duty on all of us. However, there are times when there are simply not enough airline seats for noble Lords and elected representatives in another place to get to Westminster, and that is not acceptable.

I raised this matter several times in the past Parliament, only to be told by Ministers and the Government that there was not a problem. I am afraid that there is a problem. As I said previously, and I say it again today, I urge the Ministers and their officials to please take my concerns seriously and work with airlines and airports to ensure that air connectivity between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is swiftly and significantly improved. The problem that I highlight also impacts on businesspeople wishing to travel across the Irish Sea. Failure to address the issue will continue to have a detrimental impact on the Northern Ireland economy until more services are created.

Although most of the provisions in this legislation are UK-wide, some do not extent to Northern Ireland. In his reply, can the Minister clarify which specific aspects of the regulations do not apply to Northern Ireland, and why? Is there any link between these exemptions and the continued diversification of rules and regulations between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, caused by the imposition of an Irish Sea border? I look forward to the Minister’s response.

[Baroness Pidgeon (LD)]

My Lords, I appreciate the opportunity to discuss this statutory instrument, which amends airport slots. I thank the civil servants who spoke to me on Friday to provide more detail to the background, and the Minister for the opening statement. Put simply, these slots provide the permission to use airport infrastructure on a specific date and time for take-off or landing, and they apply, as the Minister has outlined, to congested airports in the UK only.

The first change is logical—it is putting in place rules to cover scenarios such as a pandemic. Slot alleviation was granted on a temporary basis during Covid to prevent flights running empty in order that airlines could keep their slots. These new rules would cover any government-imposed measures whereby passenger travel would be significantly reduced. I am pleased to read that nine out of 10 respondents supported this, and it makes clear sense. Perhaps the Minister could advise whether this is something that is also being implemented in the EU or in other countries post pandemic.

The second area is an amendment to the definition of a new entrant carrier from an airline that has fewer than five slots at an airport on a day to one that has seven. My key question when reading the statutory instrument was where the demand has come from to raise this number to seven. Why do the Government want to make this change? I could not see anywhere that the airline industry was clamouring for it. Paragraph 7.3 of the Explanatory Memorandum states that

“some respondents felt that the suggested change to fewer than seven slots was too small to have a tangible effect on competition and wanted a higher threshold”.

What conversations has the department had with the airline industry? Is there any consensus or appetite for the definition of a new entrant carrier to include a higher number of slots?

Conversely, is there a concern that while raising the slot threshold to seven could make it easier for new entrants, it might also limit opportunities for smaller carriers? Surely we need to ensure safeguards and encourage broader market diversity. Perhaps the Minister can clarify how the Government will ensure that the allocation of slots increases choice for passengers.

What conversations has the department had with the EU about its plans in this area? While I understand that this change would bring UK legislation in line with international guidelines, which were updated in 2020, in these areas it is often sensible to be aligned with our nearest neighbours, and it would be good to understand where the EU is in this particular field. In my view, it is not an area where divergence is necessarily needed.

I would appreciate some responses from the Minister to these questions—but, overall, the statutory instrument is acceptable in its current form.

Electric Scooters and Electric Bicycles: Pedestrian Safety

Lord Rogan Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

It is easy to recognise the position the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, talked about. Indeed, he talked about it in very similar terms the week before Christmas. It is primarily a matter of enforcement by chief police officers, simply because, as he says, there may or may not be a crime in relation to the use of e-scooters and e-bikes, but crimes are being committed as a consequence of using them. This debate is one of the ways of drawing it to the attention of chief police officers, so that enforcement action is appropriately taken.

[Lord Rogan (UUP)]

My Lords, despite rental e-scooters being legal for use in public places in some English cities, they remain illegal on the roads and footpaths of Northern Ireland. However, they do sometimes appear, which prompted the Police Service of Northern Ireland to take to social media before Christmas to warn that any e-scooters gifted in the Province could be used only on private land. Using his good offices, can the Minister offer an assurance that any possible change to the legal status of e-scooters in Northern Ireland will not happen without full and proper consultation with the PSNI?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I am certainly willing to commit to consultation with all the enforcement authorities on this, because it is very important, when we are able to do something about this, that the law is framed in a way that can be enforced both in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.