Aviation Sector

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Joy Morrissey (Beaconsfield) (Con)]

I congratulate the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Robert Courts), on his new role—long may it continue—and I thank the Government for their £8.5 billion of investment in the aviation sector,

What has been shocking in this pandemic has been the way aviation companies have responded and treated their employees, and by far the most shocking has been British Airways, which is what I want to speak on today. It is about fairness and the lack of fairness displayed in companies such as British Airways, which I feel has been using the pandemic as an excuse to liquidate its assets and move it transnational base out of Britain and overseas.

Today, I want to speak on behalf of constituents in places such as Marlow, Beaconsfield, Flackwell Heath and Hedgerley who have worked for British Airways, some for 20 or 30 years, and who have been left with virtually nothing. As we move towards October, can we look at how businesses are going to respond when the furlough scheme ends and how we treat companies such as British Airways that hold valuable slots at Heathrow?

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I am sure that, like me, the hon. Member has heard many heartbreaking stories from constituents treated appallingly by this nation’s flag carrier. Will she call on her own Front Bench to ban this fire-and-rehire policy it is using? There is a private Member’s Bill before us tomorrow. The Government should be taking this on, because it is a practical and obvious way they can step in to back BA employees.

[Joy Morrissey]

I thank the hon. Member for raising the important issue of how we can hold companies such as British Airways to account. It is an issue of fairness. If it is going to liquidate not only its assets but its British employees, we should look at which companies are retaining the highest percentage of British employees and think about how we can reallocate the slots to them. There should be a reward for fairness.