Hansard

Yes—of course I accept that point.

I turn to other aspects that make Prestwick the location of choice in Scotland and, indeed, the United Kingdom. One is the weather conditions at Prestwick, which are due to its location in the rain shadow of Arran. The launch delays at Cape Canaveral over the past 40 years because of cloud cover will have crept into the consciousness of colleagues. Prestwick airport was located where it is because of the lack of cloud cover—a fact that saved the lives of many American and British fliers during the second world war. That fortunate and deliberately selected geographical location is now also important to commercial space operations, with Prestwick having the lowest prevalence of cloud cover when compared with competitor English and Welsh airports, according to available Met Office statistics.

Prestwick’s concrete runway is also of sufficient length to accommodate space flight launches, unlike the runways at Newquay and Llanbedr, both of which would require extension to bring them up to a minimum standard. In the time that is available, those are some of the key reasons why Prestwick is the location of choice not just in Scotland, but in the UK as a whole.

What is needed now is for the Scottish Government to come to an early decision on which airport will be the preferred Scottish option and then to throw its weight behind that choice.

Make no mistake—the bids for Newquay in Cornwall or Llanbedr in Wales to be the locations for the spaceport are already being lobbied for extensively within the corridors of power at Westminster and in America, while our own bid team at Prestwick is only modestly resourced by South Ayrshire Council and Prestwick Airport Ltd.

Prestwick could be described as a late entrant to that very competitive field, but with support its obvious attributes should make it a clear winner in the Scotland and UK bidding processes. The strength and depth of the Prestwick bid team should also be noted, with widespread support coming from the aerospace sector, which is keen to develop and build on its internationally recognised skill set.

Support has also been forthcoming from South Ayrshire Council, the University of the West of Scotland, the University of Strathclyde, Ayrshire College and Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce, but perhaps most important of all is the support of the local people of Prestwick, Ayr and Troon for this pioneering project.

Minister, the choice is yours: I urge you and the Scottish Government to select Prestwick airport as Scotland’s choice for the spaceport and then to support Prestwick airport as the location of choice for a spaceport in the UK. Thank you.