Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill

Roger Gale Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 17th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak on this Bill, for which I commend the hon. Member for Woking (Mr Lord).

As others have said, private companies need a spaceflight operator licence, as set out in the Space Industry Act 2018, before they can operate from the UK. I am pleased to say that we continue to support the Act as a means to ensure safety and compliance, and it is right that the Act works to limit the extent to which UK taxpayers are liable for picking up the cost of commercial spaceflight.

I recognise that the limits to liability in the licences that the Act allows are key to ensuring the potential economic viability of space activities. In that spirit, I welcome the move towards legal certainty regarding liability limits when launching or operating satellites from the UK. As we have heard, the Bill seeks to do this by amending the Space Industry Act to legally require liability limits in space operator licences. This will provide welcome clarity and reassurance to investors. We want to see a thriving UK space sector and to help our strong space sector businesses fulfil their potential.

As a nation, we have a proud history of space exploration and global collaboration in this important field, going back to 1957 when British Skylark rockets were launched from Woomera in Australia. In 1962, the UK partnered with NASA to launch rockets from an Italian base off the coast of Kenya, and, at the turn of the millennium, the British National Space Centre was the third largest financial contributor to the European Space Agency. It is also worth noting that pioneering British astronauts such as Helen Sharman and Major Tim Peake have made a significant contribution to space exploration.

Fast-forwarding to today, the UK space sector has a turnover of £17 billion or more and employs over 48,000 people, including 2,300 apprentices, in exciting roles. There is a notable space cluster in Surrey, and my area of Berkshire has significant space businesses, so this legislation affects many of our constituencies.

Space technology is not just for those involved in advanced manufacturing. It is for all of us. Whether it is combating and measuring climate change, using and deploying rural broadband or supporting transport and agriculture, space is vital for security and resilience. Satellite communications play an important role in communications across the world, and space provides opportunities for crucial economic growth, as the hon. Member for Woking mentioned, from Cornwall all the way to Shetland. Indeed, aerospace research and development is a long-term endeavour, and our industrial strength in the UK is the result of decades of support by successive Governments. We would seek to build on that legacy, including by developing spaceports and centres such as the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre, which has created over 350 jobs and injected around £260 million in the north-east economy.

We have also proposed a regulatory innovation office to support our science, research, innovation and space ventures. Our regulators must be responsive to innovation, from in-orbit manufacturing to space-based renewables. Labour’s regulatory innovation office would rewire regulators to support innovation, including in the space sector. The office would set and monitor targets for approvals, benchmarked internationally, and would give regulators steers from our wider industrial strategy. We would also support the Regulatory Horizons Council, with deadlines for Government to respond to its work.

I will turn briefly to the importance of broader economic stability in supporting the UK’s space sector. As well as regulation, industry desperately needs support and stability from Government, and it is somewhat sad that the current Government have failed to always offer that stability. The National Space Council was set up by one Prime Minister, sadly cancelled by the next, then reinstated by the one after that. In addition, the UK left Galileo, a project we had done so much to bring about. The Government subsequently made a U-turn on a rival system, which cost the taxpayer £60 million.

The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has expressed concerns about the lack of coherence in the current Government space strategy. Indeed, it has said this ambiguity added to harmful speculation about the OneWeb Eutelsat merger. Unfortunately, the space industry plan was three months late, and it is unclear how the Government see space relating to key technologies in the science and technology framework. In contrast, Labour’s industrial strategy, with our statutory industrial strategy council, will provide the stability and partnership the industry needs.

Turning to skills, when colleagues spoke at the UK space conference last year, attendees heard the same concerns mentioned by hon. Members earlier: that we need to raise the profile of space careers to secure the skilled workforce that the industry demands. We propose a national skills body, Skills England, to provide leadership and to bring together Government, business, training providers and trade unions to meet local skills needs. We want to reform the apprenticeship levy to maximise the opportunities that learners have.

Expanding opportunities in the industry should, as was indicated earlier, help to create jobs for people from all backgrounds. Space Park Leicester, where the university, local government and industry work together to make space more accessible to all, is an example of the developments we would like to support. If we were to enter Government, we would want to see a cross-Government action plan for diversity in STEM.

I would like to leave the Minister with a few constructive questions. I hope he will address my points about stability and set out how the Government will reassure business that Britain is still a great place to invest in respect of commercial space ventures. In his response, will he agree with me that skills and training are vital to the sector, and that we must provide high-quality jobs for people from all backgrounds?

In conclusion, on the whole we support the Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill. Adequate licensing will be a key contributor to creating important growth in the space sector. However, the space industry lacks stable long-term investment and support from the Government. I look forward to the Minister’s response on these matters.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

I welcome the hon. Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) to the Dispatch Box for his first outing as a Minister of the Crown.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Mohindra]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention. With her permission, I will make sure that I or another Minister writes to her. As she correctly pointed out, Shetland remains very important in the space space, and the Bill incorporates all four corners of our great Union.

I was speaking about the liability regime, how operator liability is limited, and how other states provide guarantees to meet all claims—all those above the operator’s limit on liability—such as the US or France, as has been discussed. That is why the Space Industry Act 2018 contains powers to limit the amount of space flight operators’ liability when carrying out space flight activities from the UK. It is Government policy that the regulator should use these powers and specify a limit on operator liabilities in the licence.

The Bill is therefore fully consistent with Government policy and, furthermore, improves the Space Industry Act by meeting a key request from industry to provide legislative certainty that spaceflight operators will not face unlimited liability when operating from the UK. For those reasons, we are very pleased to support it.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

I was interested in the hon. Gentleman’s remarks about his childhood dream to be an astronaut. When I was a child, I recall one Yuri Gagarin circumnavigating the world, I think for 90 minutes. It seems like a very long time ago. I call Mr Jonathan Lord to wind up.

[Mr Lord]

With the leave of the House, I would like to thank all Members of this House for attending. For those who attended Second Reading, I am pleased that we had fewer space-related puns today, although it was a very humorous—and, beneath the humour, very serious—debate that went on for some time and covered all issues. I also thank those Members who served on the Bill Committee, and the Clerk of private Members’ Bills, Anne-Marie Griffiths, who has given such good help and advice to me and to other colleagues who have brought forward private Members’ Bills in this session.

Our space industry is thriving, but this measure is vital to securing an equally exciting and dynamic future. I am so pleased that the Bill has cross-party support. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Reading East (Matt Rodda), spoke very eloquently about the space cluster that we have in Surrey and the wider south-east. One of those companies is Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, which is just outside of my constituency, but has many employees living in my constituency who will benefit. Other firms—large, medium and small—will grow in the UK and come to the UK if this measure is passed.

It was a great honour to see my hon. Friend speaking from the Dispatch Box—the first of many times, I am sure. This measure has cross-party support and, to ensure that exciting and dynamic future that I mentioned, I commend the Bill to the House.

Question put and agreed to. 

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his successful excursion into space.