Aerospace Industry

Debate between Alison Seabeck and Ian C. Lucas

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Ian Lucas]

I agree with everything that the hon. Gentleman says. An important thing that industry and Government can do together is identify deficiencies in the UK and devise policy to address them. Supply chain development has been identified as a difficulty that needs to be addressed in both the automotive and aerospace sectors. I am pleased that the UK aerospace partnership is following that broad structure, which has been successful in the automotive sector. I hope that the successful approach will continue. Will the Minister confirm that he will act as the joint chair of the partnership with Marcus Bryson of GKN? Will that reflect the Government’s commitment to the success of the partnership?

In passing, I should mention that I am grateful to GKN for providing me with an Industry and Parliament Trust fellowship back in, I think, 2003-04. It gave me a great insight not only into the company and the aerospace industry more generally, but into the onset of globalisation, its challenges and the work that a large manufacturing company needs to do to deal with it.

In all my dealings with the aerospace sector, I have been struck by how good it is at engaging with MPs—not only local MPs, but anyone who shows an interest in the industry. It is keen to work with both Government and Back Benchers to extend the appreciation of the industry. The general public still have not got the fact that we are leaders in aerospace—I take part of the blame for that, because I was the Minister for a year—so we need to repeat that fact consistently.

Airbus, which is next to my constituency, has been a great friend to me over many years. AgustaWestland has kept me informed about the exciting developments in the civil helicopter sphere in which it is involved. The ADS group, as a collective organisation, works extremely hard to promote the aerospace industry in the UK.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend mentioned AgustaWestland. As shadow Defence Minister, I would say that British aerospace’s enormous success and the respect that it is held in globally are extremely important to the defence sector. The commercial and defence sectors are put in separate boxes—one does well and the other less well—but it is vital that we have a strong commercial aerospace industry, which in turn supports our defence needs.

[Ian Lucas]

That is indeed the case. My hon. Friend makes a very good point about the importance of both the defence and the civil aerospace sectors. There will be particularly difficult times, as there have been for the defence sector in the past couple of years, while the civil aerospace sector is more buoyant. It is important to have a very close relationship between those two arms of the sector to ensure long-term planning.

Aerospace is a growing sector. The aerospace growth partnership report states that

“growth in air travel has proved remarkably resilient”.

It is forecast that that will continue, with 27,000 new large civil airliners needed by 2030. There are also extremely challenging climate change regulations in place, so air travel expansion will be coupled with demand targets that will need to be met by technological advances. As a nation, we are well placed to address those challenges—for example, through the development of composite technologies, leading to lighter, more fuel-efficient aircraft. We need to make sure that such commitments are worldwide, so that we do not hand a competitive advantage to our competitors. We must ensure that the UK industry’s advantages are not prejudiced in the world market.

One of the key issues facing UK aviation at present is the introduction of the EU emissions trading scheme. Please will the Minister confirm that the impact of the scheme on UK aviation is being assessed? What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the UK industry is not prejudiced by the introduction of that scheme?