Aerospace Industry: Northern Ireland

Sarah Jones Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Sarah Jones)]

I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for introducing this debate tonight. I had wondered who was going to intervene on him as he could not intervene on himself. I am grateful that several hon. Members did the job for him. I also want to thank him for his dedicated support for Northern Ireland’s remarkable aerospace industry, which is founded on strong engineering heritage and is rich in knowledge, skills, experience and technology. Indeed, as this is my first time at the Dispatch Box since I was given this ministerial appointment, I am delighted that it is to discuss and highlight the Government support for the Northern Ireland aerospace sector.

I can absolutely assure the hon. Member and the whole House that this Government will work tirelessly to deliver economic growth in Northern Ireland and across all corners of the United Kingdom, so that we can drive inward investment, enable British industry and businesses of all sizes to grow and prosper, and give working people more secure employment.

[Gavin Robinson]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I congratulate her on her appointment and wish her incredibly well.

May I encourage the Minister to access the Royal United Services Institute report into defence spending in Northern Ireland? When she reads it, she will recognise that Northern Ireland to date has received one fifth of the UK average spend on defence per region around the United Kingdom. There is a huge opportunity for her to increase support and investment for Northern Ireland and for the industry at the heart of this debate.

[Sarah Jones]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention and for adding to my reading list, which is already quite substantial, as I am sure he can imagine. Our wonderful civil servants are keeping us very busy with all the things that we need to read, but, indeed, I will look at that report, as he suggests, and am happy to do so.

Delivering an industrial strategy is at the centre of the Government’s growth mission alongside our goal of becoming a clean energy superpower. We want to create the right conditions for the green industries of the future to flourish, enabling those key sectors not only to transform the UK economy, but to become world leaders in their own right.

Aerospace is crucial to this growth mission, with investment in research and development key to delivering the next generation aircraft for sustainable flight. That is why I am very much looking forward to attending the Farnborough International Airshow tomorrow for the first time as a Minister. I will be meeting UK aerospace companies and see for myself the vast array of pioneering products and services being sold across the globe. I am hoping to see all the partners involved in the Spirit discussions tomorrow and to talk to them about this topic.

[Jim Shannon]

I understand that there is a tent at the Farnborough show that has a Northern Ireland section. I am sure that the Minister will attend that show, and have a chance to interact with the companies there. Sometimes people say that if Ministers go there, they get them for about 15 minutes. I suggest that she spends a wee bit longer there.

[Sarah Jones]

I am delighted that the hon. Member has intervened in his own Adjournment debate. I will be there at the UK stand tomorrow, and we will see what Northern Ireland has on display. I will spend as much time there as I can. I am there for the whole day, so I hope that I will spend some good time there.

As Members will be well aware, Northern Ireland has a long and impressive history in the aerospace industry. This Government are in lockstep with the sector’s ambitions to grow, compete on the world stage, and ease the transition to net zero flight. Today, the aerospace sector supports nearly 240,000 jobs, with almost half of those employees directly employed by aerospace companies. Some 5,000 of them are in Northern Ireland. The sector as a whole is worth some £30 billion. Despite all the achievements, we recognise that the past years have been challenging for the sector, with the chaos and uncertainty of the previous Government, and the global shocks of covid, the war in Ukraine and the disruption in the Red sea. We know that the impact of those issues persists.

[Adam Jogee]

I know that in a previous life the Minister spent a lot of time working in and on Northern Ireland, so we are listening very carefully indeed. Labour Members are rightly very proud of devolution, and what it has meant for all parts of our United Kingdom. What engagement has she had, and will she have in the months ahead, with the Northern Ireland Executive on this and associated issues?

[Sarah Jones]

I welcome my hon. Friend to his place in this House. A really important aspect of the way that the Prime Minister has set about government is his telling us all that we must work together much more closely on issues that affect the United Kingdom as a whole. That means working across Government Departments and across the nations and regions. We are setting up structures to do that. The Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is already talking at length to colleagues, and we have had conversations across Government on these issues already.

[Alex Easton (North Down) (Ind)]

Thousands of people in my constituency of North Down work in the industry. Will she consider a visit to my constituency to visit those factories? It would be a great honour for us, and she would see at first hand what is going on. It would be greatly appreciated by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) as well.

[Sarah Jones]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. I am of course happy to visit whatever I can. One of the best ways of understanding the issues is to go and see things for myself, and I would certainly like to do that. The Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been in Northern Ireland frequently, and we went there a few weeks before the general election was called. It was incredibly powerful to see the ambition in the business community in Northern Ireland to get things moving and growing.

The industry faces resourcing constraints, and shortages of materials and capacity. That situation is forcing some major manufacturers to slow down their planned production rates. Given all those challenges, it is only right that we support aerospace manufacturers in Northern Ireland and across the UK, and the industrial strategy will be the cornerstone of that work. We believe that the strategy will grow our share of the global aerospace manufacturing market, unlock huge investment opportunities that will fuel research and development, and create new high-skilled, high-paid jobs across the economy, including in aerospace. The Government will work in close partnership with the aerospace sector, support clean growth and continue to develop joint Government and industry strategy through the aerospace growth partnership sector council—a partnership that reaches businesses and the research base in every part of the United Kingdom.

I am aware that the hon. Member for Strangford’s debate is focused on Northern Ireland, so let me turn to Northern Ireland in greater detail. First, I recognise his reference to Harland & Wolff. As he will be aware, my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary gave an update to the House this morning via a written statement, stressing the fact that we are working with Members, the Northern Ireland Executive, trade unions and other partners to support a positive outcome for all affected sites across the UK and for its workers.

Moving back to aerospace, as the hon. Gentleman said, there are at least 120 companies in Northern Ireland supplying to every major commercial aircraft programme, boasting expertise in everything from composite design and manufacturing to precision machining and more. As he also said, one third of global aircraft seats are made in Northern Ireland, as of course are the advanced composite wings of the Airbus A220 aircraft.

It is the week of the Farnborough international airshow, and a week in which we have announced over £100 million for cutting-edge new green aerospace technologies, so the hon. Gentleman’s debate has touched down with excellent timing, particularly as I recognise—we need to cover this—that there is of course concern about the expected change in ownership of the region’s largest advanced manufacturer, Spirit AeroSystems’ Short Brothers. Short Brothers is best known for its award-winning advanced composites technology, developed and deployed on the A220 wing. The innovative design and manufacturing technique received recognition in 2019 from the Royal Academy of Engineering, the highest honour awarded to an engineering project.

Shorts employs 1,500 people on the A220 programme, supported by £113 million through a repayable funding partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive and the previous Labour Government in 2009. The ability to manufacture a complete wing in one facility is a credit to those who work there. That builds on the legacy of more than 100 years of Northern Ireland aerospace. Airbus is now working on ramping up production, and announced in April this year that it would be increasing the production rate per month to 14 aircraft by 2026. With more than 550 orders to deliver, and the likelihood of further orders to follow, this provides great certainty for the company, its employees and the Northern Ireland economy.

On the acquisition of Spirit and Shorts, Boeing and Airbus announced on 1 July that they will acquire parts of the Spirit AeroSystems global business. Boeing plans to take nearly all of Spirit’s Boeing-facing business, mostly those parts located in the United States. That sale is, however, subject to the sale of certain other Spirit operations to Airbus. Airbus and Spirit have agreed, subject to final terms, that Airbus will acquire the A220 wing and mid-fuselage. These are built by Short Brothers at its A220 wing production facility and its other Northern Ireland sites.

Spirit plans to sell its remaining Belfast operations—the non-Airbus programmes—alongside its facility in Prestwick, to another company. These advanced manufacturing sites offer engineering centres of excellence with engineering-backed capabilities, which Spirit assures us will prove to be an attractive proposition for potential buyers. Commercial negotiations are continuing as the parties work through the details of the acquisition and work towards finalising terms, with an expectation that the transaction will close in mid-2025.

The Government are working with the Northern Ireland Executive to help to ensure the best outcome for Short Brothers and all its highly skilled and hard-working staff. We have a keen interest in seeing that any acquisition includes a commitment to develop Short Brothers and its supply chain and provides the best possible opportunity for growth in Northern Ireland. That is because the Government have a clear vision for the future of aerospace across the whole UK.

We are providing support for technology development for the next generation of aircraft and engines through the Aerospace Technology Institute programme, which provides collaborative funding to companies based in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. That includes the isothermal variable-volume infusion, or IVI, project that we announced earlier today at Farnborough international airshow—a £10 million project led by Short Brothers to produce lighter, more structurally efficient aerostructures, enabling the transition to new sustainable aircraft. The Government will also continue to work in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive on opportunities for growth and investment.

In summary, the UK has a vibrant and hugely pioneering aerospace sector. It is a central cog in our manufacturing economy and will play a hugely important global role in decarbonisation and net zero, nurturing some of the highest-skilled jobs and most advanced technologies in the world. UK aerospace companies and their supply chains will be at the heart of our transformative industrial strategy, and I know the Northern Ireland aerospace sector will play a pivotal role in the success of the UK sector as a whole, and in the growth and success of UK manufacturing and industry.

Question put and agreed to.