In its manifesto for the recent General Election, the Conservative Party said: ‘It is about identifying the industries that are of strategic value to our economy and supporting and promoting them through policies on trade, tax, infrastructure, skills, training and research and development’. On the face of it, those industries are electric vehicles and space.
The Speech addressed electric and autonomous vehicles, mainly in terms of infrastructure and insurance, as well as the space sector, with the promise to make the UK ‘the most attractive place in Europe for commercial spaceflight’.
The Speech noted the forthcoming Bill would help to achieve an ambition to grow the UK’s share of the global space market to 10% by 2030. A reasonable ambition, you might think, The UK space industry already contributes £13.7billion a year to the UK economy and supports more than 38,000 jobs.
Yet the proposed Bill appears to focus on launch facilities, rather than nurturing technology development. Is the Government missing something or has the UK already missed the boat when it comes to developing space technology?
