Galileo Programme

Debate between Ian Murray and Guto Bebb

Thursday 14th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Guto Bebb]

My hon. and gallant Friend strikes the nail on the head. He is absolutely right that this decision will be damaging for the capabilities of the whole of Europe. In view of the Prime Minister’s statement on our willingness to co-operate on security issues, the situation that we are now facing is genuinely disappointing. Again, he highlights the fact that we have the capability, skills and expertise to develop our own system if that is what we have to do.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

I declare an interest as a trustee of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. The Government have said in response to a written question:

“In the long term, we believe that”

a British global navigation satellite

“system could be operated for around the same annual cost as the UK’s current contribution to the EU’s Galileo programme.”

Could the Minister tell us: what are the short-term costs?

[Guto Bebb]

The written answer highlights the fact that our current contribution is about £200 million a year. The total billed cost would be estimated at about £4 billion. So in the short term we still want to ensure that we have an involvement with Galileo: that is still our aim. The Prime Minister will take this issue up, and it is clearly important that she does so. It should be noted that, thus far, every single satellite utilised within the Galileo system has been built in the UK, so I wonder whether this urgent question should be taken in every other Parliament in Europe as a result of the decision taken yesterday.