Oral Answers to Questions

Keir Mather Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Minister—welcome.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)]

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

This year, our Department will publish the integrated national transport strategy outlining our long-term vision for transport in England. It will set out how the transport sector, Government and local leaders should work together to improve people’s everyday journeys however they choose to travel, including how people access ports and airports. We look forward to providing more information in due course.

[Joe Robertson]

I welcome the new maritime Minister to his place—it comes to something when Isle of Wight ferry company Red Funnel is operating ferries that are older than the new Minister. Will he speak to his new colleague in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Minister responsible for English devolution, to ensure that the new Mayor for Hampshire and the Solent actually has regulatory or licensing powers over transport across the Solent? If the Government create a new local leader without any powers over integrating the island that I represent, as the Member for Isle of Wight East, into the mainland, they will have failed to deliver any form of genuine integrated local transport for my constituents.

[Keir Mather]

The hon. Member speaks with passion about the state of ferry services in his constituency. It is an issue that I am keen to engage with him on further; I know the former maritime Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane), was very engaged in this work, too. I am looking to meet the hon. Gentleman next week, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley), to take this conversation forward. On stakeholder engagement with the ferry operator itself, that local engagement is something I will be taking part in through the Department. I look forward to engaging with the hon. Gentleman as I take that process forward.

[Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)]

8. What steps she is taking to support the bus sector.

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[Alan Gemmell (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking to support the aviation sector.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)]

Our airports are gateways to the world for the British people and for investment into the UK from across the globe. The Government are committed to supporting the aviation sector as a central part of our growth mission. We are progressing airport planning decisions and modernising airspace; we invited and received proposals for Heathrow expansion, encouraging billions in investment; and to support sustainable growth we have introduced the sustainable aviation fuel mandate and the Bill on revenue certainty.

[Alan Gemmell]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Minister on his new position. I spent the weekend in the bonny town of Ayr for the Ayr show, celebrating the aviation sector’s contribution to my constituency and the wider west of Scotland economy. That contribution includes companies such as BAE, Collins Aerospace, GE Caledonian, NATS, Spirit AeroSystems and Woodward, the turnaround of Prestwick airport, and the commitment of defence scale-up Aeralis to build the first British-built jet in 50 years at Prestwick. Does the Minister agree that we need to continue to support our aviation sector to create well-paying jobs at Prestwick and across the UK?

[Keir Mather]

My hon. Friend has championed Prestwick airport and the aviation sector in his constituency, and I agree with him that aviation is vital to the UK’s industrial and regional prosperity. In 2022, air transport and aerospace supported around 240,000 jobs nationwide. The Government remain committed to backing the sector to deliver high-quality, well-paid jobs from Prestwick to communities across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom.

[John Milne (Horsham) (LD)]

12. What recent progress she has made on the development of policy on pavement parking.

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[David Davis (Goole and Pocklington) (Con)]

19. What steps she is taking to support the sustainable aviation fuel industry.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)]

The Government are supporting the UK’s sustainable aviation fuel industry through the SAF mandate, the advanced fuels fund and new legislation introducing a revenue certainty mechanism. We are working with industry to cut emissions, to boost UK production, to create high-quality green jobs and to attract investment while ensuring value for money.

[David Davis]

I congratulate my parliamentary neighbour on his accession. It is good to see his talents recognised.

Much of the technology currently used in sustainable aviation fuel is of foreign origin. Part of the reason for that is that no Government body directly supports the development of core technologies used for that, supporting only the development of production facilities. The Aerospace Technology Institute, for example, should be able to invest in research and development programmes to develop sustainable fuel, but is currently not permitted to do so. Will the Minister look at allowing that, so we can accelerate the development of our own technology in this area?

[Keir Mather]

The right hon. Gentleman will know that through the ATI programme, the Department for Business and Trade co-invests with industry in research and technology development in the UK to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace. In addition, we fund the UK SAF Clearing House to help fuel producers navigate the testing and approval requirements for non-fossil fuel-based jet fuel. It co-ordinates testing and qualifications of SAF, helping to remove barriers to new fuels coming to market. Plus, the advanced fuels fund has allocated £198 million, with a core aim of overcoming technological risk for early-stage projects to support UK SAF production. If the right hon. Member wishes to discuss any other aspects of this policy, I will be very glad to meet him.

[Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)]

On the subject of aviation, the beautiful Isle of Barra airport in my constituency has had to cancel 14% of its flights in the last year on the beautiful beach runway. This is not, on the whole, due to bad weather or tides, but because the Brexiteering Tories withdrew us from the European satellite navigation system, which allows flights to land in low visibility and bad weather. Will the new Minister celebrate his role by meeting me on the beach to discuss rejoining—perhaps not the European Union but at least the European geostationary navigation overlay service, EGNOS?

[Keir Mather]

What an attractive proposition from my hon. Friend—and so early in my tenure in this position. He raises an incredibly important matter, and it would be remiss of me not to give it the full attention it deserves, and therefore I will respond to his specific questions further in writing.

[Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.