One feature of Parliament is that you’re not always sure whether you’re going to get called to speak in a debate – even if you’re down on the speaker list. With time constraints quite tight, it’s sometimes the case that we run out of time and the debate is cut short without some people being able to give the speech they prepared.
Unfortunately, today was one of those days for me. The debate was on aviation and whilst there was a lot of contributions about airlines and airports, I was due to speak about the aerospace sector which is critical for us in Burnley.
With that in mind I’ve put below the speech I was planning to give (though I always add one or two bits whilst I’m on my feet speaking).
Thank you Mr Speaker.
It’s a pleasure to speak in today’s debate on aviation. It is a broad topic, covering everything from airlines and airports to air traffic control but in speaking today I intend to focus exclusively on only one sector, and that is aerospace. Because without the manufacturing prowess of places like my constituency of Burnley, this country would not be producing the aircraft or the engines which support all our aviation businesses.
I must also first make a comment about the devastating news from Rolls Royce a few weeks ago, where they announced plans to move the manufacturing of wide chord fan blades from the Barnoldswick site, just outside my constituency, to Singapore.
That’s devastating not just for the hundreds of people who currently work for Rolls Royce locally but also for all those small and medium sized businesses in Burnley and the rest of East Lancashire in the supply chain.
Having spoken only this morning to Rolls Royce leadership I would urge them to meaningfully engage with the unions and others to find a sustainable future for the site. The skills available there are world class and if they are to be retained, so they can be used once the sector picks up again, they need to keep as much work locally as they can. It cannot be right or fair that a company which develops products using Government R&D support, then moves production of those products to an offshore location.
Rolls Royce is only one part of the picture though.
As I said just a moment ago, the strength of the aerospace sector is the diversity of the supply chain. The unique specialisms that each business has that means the planes we build are unrivalled in quality.
From Paradigm Precision and Safran Nacelles, to BCW and Velocity Composites. These companies are amongst the most innovative in the UK and the lifeblood of my constituency. They are four names but there are many, many more.
I have seen first-hand the work they do. There is enormous skill not just in advanced manufacturing using state of the art tools, but also quality metalwork. Skills which are in short supply and which we cannot afford to lose.
The Government has put an unprecedented package of support in place to protect jobs so far for which I and my constituents are incredibly grateful. The furlough scheme has paid the wages of over 13,000 people in Burnley and Padiham.
The Plan for Jobs is also a very welcome step. If all 13,000 people in Burnley were brought back from furlough the Job Retention Bonus would represent a capital injection of £13million into local businesses – a significant number of which are in aerospace. That’s not just there to support wages, but to support new investment too.
The Plan for Jobs recognised though that it is vital to restore confidence if people are to be secure in their jobs and businesses have a sustainable future. And that’s what the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme did for hospitality – introduced confidence for consumers and stimulated demand that gave businesses confidence.
Now we need to do the same for aerospace too – getting business confidence back so companies can invest for the future, stimulating demand for the products they make and getting aircraft flying again.
And the same innovative policy tools that brought us Eat Out to Help Out can bring us something for aerospace too.
An aircraft scrappage scheme would offer support to airlines as they look to clean up their fleet, ready for when travel recommences at scale. Putting newer, greener, aircraft in the air. The British Airways fleet is amongst the oldest of any UK airline and as the UK flag carrier and one of the largest airlines in the world, cleaning up that fleet would make significant inroads into meeting our environmental commitments – supporting thousands of jobs in the process.
Defence can also play its part too. As a lead member of the F-35 programme there are companies across the UK who are in that supply chain. Including a number in Burnley. And Team Tempest, our ambitious project to deliver a home-grown combat aircraft should not just be continued but boosted. In doing these we will bring forward contracts for our SMEs, providing jobs, contracts and certainty.
And on confidence I would ask the Government to look seriously at the potential for a new swathe of enterprise zones across the country, especially in Burnley.
As we emerge from Covid, and get Brexit done, let’s not just have freeports but enterprise zones working hand in hand with them too.
Places where businesses can invest in new machinery that helps them diversify whilst receiving capital relief; where government supports the infrastructure that’s needed; and where job creation is clearly incentivised.
Aviation is not just a crucial industry, not just a national gem, but a strategic asset. It is the sector that allows us to build our own combat aircraft. It supports us as we play an outsized role in programmes like F-35. And it means we are one of the most globally connected nations in the world.
The Government support so far is immensely welcome. Our challenge now is to find the next set of innovative policy tools that will help reinvigorate the sector, sustain the jobs we have managed to keep so far and re-create the jobs we’ve lost.
