Jamie Stone
Main Page: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)Department Debates - View all Jamie Stone's debates with the Department for Transport
(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD) [V]
It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Ms McVey, and I congratulate my good friend, the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double), on securing the debate. He represents Cornwall at one end of the United Kingdom, and I represent Caithness at the other.
I want to speak about Wick airport. For some time, there has been a question mark over its future, which worries me and everyone who lives in the far north of the United Kingdom. It worries us all a great deal. The point about trying to regenerate the economy of Caithness once Dounreay, the UK’s first nuclear reactor, has been decommissioned is that we have to replace the employment up there. The airport is crucial not only to the present local economy, but to the future local economy of the far north of Scotland.
We all know how enthusiastic the Prime Minister is for a space launch, which I completely support. There was a proposal to have one of Britain’s first space launch sites in Sutherland, close to Wick airport. It strikes me that although we are forging ahead in a good way with a space launch, any question mark over Wick airport would take us in completely the wrong direction. In fact, if we lost Wick airport, that would be a major disaster for the north of Scotland and a big disaster for the United Kingdom, because, as the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay has said, our chain of regional airports is crucial to the way we run our country and our economy.
For some time, we have been campaigning in the north of Scotland for a public service obligation for Wick airport. To that end, I give credit where it is due. The Scottish Government have offered a sum of money towards that, which is good, and I congratulate a former Member of the Scottish Parliament, Ms Gail Ross, on having achieved it, but that is not enough money to run this.
My erstwhile council, Highland Council, on which I had the honour to serve for a number of years, does not have the deepest pockets in the United Kingdom, but it has, very much to its credit, come up with an offer of £300,000 per annum, but we have a shortfall. So, Ms McVey, my request is simple, and you can imagine what is coming. I would be deeply grateful if Ministers agreed to meet me, and probably Mr Raymond Bremner, chairman of the airport committee, to talk about how we could establish a joint funding package for a PSO that ensured the future prosperity of Wick airport.
This is my final point. If we can increase the flow of passengers through Wick airport, that is good for the economy of the country and it is good for the local economy. Part of keeping the United Kingdom united, frankly, is to have all the airports working with each other across the length and breadth of the country, all the way from Cornwall at the bottom of the country to Caithness at the top of the United Kingdom.