Aerospace Industry
Debate between Peter Luff and Gerald Howarth(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Howarth (Aldershot) (Con)
I reinforce the point that my hon. Friend made about the lead time for developing new aircraft today in comparison with even a generation ago. This morning, we had a briefing from the Royal Navy project director on the joint strike fighter programme. That programme has taken 14 years of development to get to where it is today, and we are a long way from getting any aeroplanes into service, which really illustrates my hon. Friend’s point.
Sir Peter Luff
That is true in the civil and defence markets—long lead times are a characteristic of new aircraft development. That is why the AGP is intended to span 15 years, and why it is vital that it receives cross-party support, to ensure support continues throughout future Administrations. Therefore, I have a central and, I hope, easy question for the Opposition. Do Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition hold true to the principles to which Labour worked in the last Parliament, and do they still endorse the broad approach being followed by the Government in this Parliament, subject to the kind of detailed questions that we are asking today?
I cannot avoid the sensitive issue of the understandable rivalry between Airbus and Boeing. I bow to no one in my respect and admiration for Airbus UK and its management team. I bitterly regret that the British share in the ownership of this fine business was lost when BAE Systems unwisely divested its shareholding. As a result of that decision, we have to work all the harder to ensure that we keep, and if possible increase, the UK’s share of each Airbus aircraft that is built. Airbus employs around 10,000 people directly in the UK: 6,000 at its site in Broughton, north Wales; and 4,000 at Filton, in Bristol. Broughton manufactures the wings for all Airbus civil aircraft; Filton designs the wings, as well as designing and testing the fuel systems and landing gear. Filton is also the manufacturing site for the wings of the A400M military transport aircraft, which will soon go into RAF service as Atlas. The Airbus supply chain involves another 1,000 UK companies; Airbus is one of the UK’s biggest inward investors in R and D, with 2013 investment at around £480 million; and there is the new North factory in Broughton.