Draft Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements) Regulations 2022
Richard Thomson Excerpts(2 years, 1 month ago)
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Richard Thomson (Gordon) (SNP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd.
Landing slots are clearly a very scarce but important resource, and it is important that we make sure that they are used efficiently, wisely and fairly. In normal circumstances the 80:20 is a perfectly reasonable way in which to incentivise the market to work as we would hope it would in terms of encouraging competition between airlines, and therefore getting better outcomes for passengers.
We all know of the strictures that we have lived under for past couple of years of the pandemic and we are not unaware, I hope, of the impact that has had on the airline industry, particularly on passenger numbers. Clearly, the introduction of some kind of waiver during that time was the right thing to do, but as we return to a measure of normality it is right that clutch plates, if I could put it that way, begin to re-engage on that incentivisation.
The Minister spoke of the perverse incentives of having too high a ratio, in terms of incentivising ghost flights. None of us wants to see that, because they are a waste of money and resource, and put costs into the system, and of course release harmful emissions into the air in a way that benefits absolutely nobody. We consider it fair and reasonable to introduce a recalibrated ratio to expand flights and to provide enhanced flexibility to allow for legitimate reasons as to why all those airlines slots might not be used. That will ensure that when those slots are not used, there are then legitimate reasons to expand the number of fair and reasonable exceptions that may apply.
Overall, the SNP think that the SI represents a positive move because it helps both the airline industry and the travel market to move back to normality. On that basis, we are happy to lend the SI our support.
Oral Answers to Questions
Richard Thomson Excerpts(2 years, 4 months ago)
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Robert Courts
The Secretary of State has indeed received a number of applications submitted by Transport for London under section 163 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to dispose of operational land at London underground stations. These are considered carefully on a case-by-case basis, but my right hon. Friend’s views have been heard very clearly.
Richard Thomson (Gordon) (SNP)
The Secretary of State for Transport (Grant Shapps)
The Government have taken decisive action to address the acute HGV driver shortage, with 32 specific measures that have been taken. As Logistics UK, the main industry haulier body has said, this has reduced the crisis as we have started to see more HGV drivers on the road.
Richard Thomson
The Government may have taken decisive action in their own eyes, but it does not seem to be having the desired effect, because the temporary visas issued by the Government in the latter part of this year have failed to attract even 10% of the open visa spaces. Given that the rest of Europe also has an HGV driver shortage, will the Secretary of State accept that the UK Government need to make our visa package for HGV drivers more attractive to EU drivers in order to help quell the domestic driver shortage?
Grant Shapps
I do not accept that. The hon. Gentleman actually highlights the problem, which is that the rest of Europe—indeed, the rest of the world—has a very significant HGV driver shortage. Simply trying to take from another part of the market that is already massively restricted is not the answer. We do not think that issuing visas is the right way forward. I know that the Leader of the Opposition called for 100,000 visas to be issued for HGV drivers. That is not our approach. These 32 measures are seeing vastly more people coming into HGV driving, with more than 1,350 more tests each week compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Draft Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2021
Richard Thomson Excerpts(2 years, 7 months ago)
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Richard Thomson (Gordon) (SNP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies.
Obviously, it is highly desirable that domestic legislation should match the highest international standards, particularly where the UK Government have been a party to calling for higher standards in international regulation and in compliance through international bodies such as the IMO. For all that the draft statutory instrument before us is highly technical, it is of huge significance, and it is absolutely the right thing to be doing to ensure that domestic UK legislation is in alignment with not only the highest international standards, but those standards that the UK has been a party to calling for.
That clearly has a number of effects on aligning our sulphur and nitrogen-related emission requirements with those high standards, on setting standards for new engines in the marine sector and on improving the ability of the authorities to enforce compliance with the stipulated requirements. On all those things, we are content with the draft SI.
Speaking more broadly, in particular in the year of COP26, the environmental impact of heating and our industrial and transportation requirements are clearly the next areas that we need to focus on to reduce our environmental impact on the planet. Rightly, there is a focus on decarbonisation, but carbon is not the only emission to harm our planet and quality of life. Shipping is a key part of that. Reducing the environmental impact of shipping as we move goods around the globe is clearly a huge part of the positive impact that we can make by reducing emissions. The draft legislation is significant in that, and we are happy to support it.