Hansard

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to engage in the debate and to close on behalf of Labour in what has been a vital discussion about one of Scotland’s most successful and vibrant sectors.

Like Christine Grahame, I had the pleasure of visiting Skyrora in Edinburgh and Loanhead in 2019, during my time as an MP and shadow under-secretary of state for Scotland, and I am thrilled that the company is still thriving—it now has more than 60 headquarters staff and more than 100 research and development staff, who are based in Cumbernauld.

It is exciting to see the scale and potential of the space sector in Scotland, from Skyrora—which I already mentioned—to Alba Orbital in my Glasgow region, to SaxaVord spaceport on Unst in Shetland, to name but three of many players in the sector. The industry is innovating nationwide.

I commend the minister for using Government time to hold the debate, and my fellow members from across the chamber for their engaging contributions. I trust that we will all, in our own way, continue to carry forward our passion and hard work on behalf of the space sector. It is clear that we are all anxious to ensure that we do not deny or miss opportunities for it to be successful. We must work intensively, rigorously and urgently to ensure that we achieve our potential in the best way that we can in what is a competitive global sector.

My colleague Daniel Johnson has hit the nail on the head with the Labour amendment. It is key for the space sector and beyond that the Scottish Government grasps the bull by the horns and engages much more intensively, rigorously and formally with industry to ensure that the sustainability of advanced manufacturing jobs in Scotland is secured. As has been mentioned extensively, the two most critical aspects in ensuring that jobs and work programmes can be supported in Scotland are skills—especially of people who are at the start or in the middle of their careers—and infrastructure.

Those of us who regularly meet the industry—including Colin Beattie, who set up the cross-party group on space—recognise that the industry is desperate to make a long-lasting impact in Scotland. We know that there is enormous interest in creating jobs and establishing long-term work programmes here, but people in the industry tell us that they need workers and the necessary training so that our schools, colleges and universities can provide excellent outputs and an appropriately qualified labour force. That is critical. They also say that the Scottish Government must help them in securing the facilities in which they can do their work well.

I see parallels with the advanced manufacturing sector, which needs the right facilities to do what it does best. That is particularly the case in the shipbuilding and maritime sector, which, at meetings of the cross-party group on maritime and shipbuilding, tells MSPs time and again that if Scotland would invest in shipyard infrastructure to build ships, companies would bend over backwards to make vessels in this country. There is a similar issue in the space sector. I hope that the minister hears me when I say that industry leaders have been loud and clear in making the point to members in cross-party groups that if we build it, they will come. They need the Government to respond in a mission-focused way. That will involve the Government taking on risk, where necessary, to ensure that companies can crowd in wealth and take root here in Scotland.

I am pleased that the minister has high ambition for the sector. The Government has set out the

“aim to grow the workforce in the space sector by 26% year on year”

and the stronger

“commitment to grow the sector by 2030”.

I will be looking carefully to see whether the Government’s cuts in education budgets and the proposed cut of £10 million in Skills Development Scotland’s budget will hamper those efforts. I fear that they will do exactly that.

Only this week, I was contacted by constituents of mine, who stated their concern about the fact that their children cannot take advanced higher maths, chemistry and physics in Glasgow schools because Glasgow City Council has cut the advanced higher hub at Glasgow Caledonian University and their schools do not provide those courses. That means that children at state secondary schools in Glasgow cannot access undergraduate engineering courses at the universities of Strathclyde or Glasgow. I think that that is a shameful situation and one that needs to be urgently addressed.

More can be done to protect the Scottish Government’s ambitions and the development of the space industry here and in the rest of the UK.

Despite the challenges, we can, with assets such as the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, be a powerhouse for innovation and advancement. That is why Labour is passionately advocating for the Scottish Government to celebrate organisations whole-heartedly and to work closely with industry and the UK Government to ensure the best possible environment for the industry to thrive in.

The member for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale mentioned additive manufacturing. I recall that, during my visit, Skyrora said that that was exactly the sort of thing that could be done at the National Manufacturing Institute, so that all companies in the sector could buy time for that particularly specialised form of advanced manufacturing. Many small and medium-sized enterprises would be unable to finance that on their own, but they could do it collaboratively.

I beg the minister to do all that is in his power to prevent the branch-plant effect that was discussed in his opening speech, and to ensure that our innovative space sector is maintained by wealth that is controlled in Scotland, and not sapped by global corporations.

I worked with Clyde Space during my previous career at Scottish Enterprise and was saddened in 2019 when the Swedish company ÅAC Microtec bought it over. Both companies—Clyde Space and ÅAC Microtec—were founded in 2005. Why was it that the Swedish company acquired the Scottish company and not vice versa? Although they are doing great work, we need to understand why that happened. Scottish companies should be acquiring overseas businesses, not the other way around, and we should see more of that happening. Scottish headquartered companies will be key to our future, so we cannot allow them to go into overseas control.

I could refer to numerous members’ comments about that, and about the regulatory issue that was also brought up. We must ensure that the Civil Aviation Authority adopts reforms so that the sector can achieve first-to-market launch into polar orbits, because if we are not careful Iceland and northern European countries will steal a march on us. That is absolutely critical.

I was particularly taken by the comments from the member for Glasgow Provan about the need for a national space mission. That is critical. It will require the state to take risks, although many previous Scottish Administrations have taken a risk-averse approach. We look need to look at the idea of talent acquisition and skills, as was mentioned by the member for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine. We should look at international engagement and driving export markets, and at critical infrastructure and shared facilities such as the NMIS in Inchinnan.

My colleague Ms Mochan mentioned the huge potential of Prestwick airport because of the opportunity for clustering with Spirit Aerosystems. We should also look at opportunities to contributions to our achievement of net zero—for example, using the heat from data centres to drive district heat networks. There are huge adjacencies and many opportunities for clustering. We should work rigorously across the sector to seize all those opportunities.

I thank the minister again for the opportunity to debate a sector that is vital for Scotland. I hope that members from across the chamber will support the amendment that was lodged by my Labour colleague, the member for Edinburgh Southern.