Carmichael leads parliamentary debate on government support for space sector

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has called on the government to capitalise on the UK’s current lead in the vertical launch space sector, while leading a debate on the space industry in Parliament. Speaking during the debate yesterday [Wednesday], Mr Carmichael noted that through the SaxaVord Space Centre in Shetland the UK currently holds 60% of Western Europe’s licenced vertical launch capacity, and called for both the UK and Scottish governments to back the Shetland site as it continues its work.

Speaking in the debate, Mr Carmichael said:

“The space sector is widely recognised as an industry with both economic and strategic importance for the UK. It is an industry in which the UK has a genuine advantage. With three ready launch pads in SaxaVord to Norway’s two, for the foreseeable future the United Kingdom, through Shetland, will contain 60% of western Europe’s vertical launch capacity. That is a significant opportunity for our economy and country as a whole, but it is an opportunity on which we must capitalise in the immediate term.

“At the point at which I anticipated securing this debate, I hoped that we would be looking at a launch early next month. We are probably a little bit further away than that. One expression I keep hearing from people in the sector is “space is hard”, even though there is a strong feeling that the final pieces are almost in place for launches soon to begin in earnest. That is why the UK Government must play their role and be a still more active supporter of the sector as we come into this critical period.

“Focusing on the UK vertical launch sector and SaxaVord itself, will the Minister reaffirm the Government’s commitment to supporting the Shetland launch site as further tests and launches go on?

“I would appreciate whatever engagement the Minister and officials can make in partnership with the Scottish Government so that we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. It is in all our interests to ensure that this gets off the ground—pun intended—so that we can start to witness and leverage the benefits to the national economy.”

Responding to the debate, Science and Technology Minister Chris Bryant MP said:

“We are ongoing in our commitment, and that commitment has not been shaken by any anomalies that might have been seen on launch. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that we need to work with the devolved Administration. I am very keen to have conversations with our colleagues in Scotland, my counterparts in Scotland, and of course with the Scotland Office. We need to work as a united Government to achieve what we want in the field.

“We need to be absolutely clear about what we are seeking to achieve, and about what the whole consortium of businesses and players in the space field want to achieve, so that we get really good value for money for the UK economy. It would be a terrible dereliction of a significant economic and strategic opportunity for the UK if we were somehow or other to abandon this field or diminish our commitment.”