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UK Space Policy

I congratulate the hon. Member for Nuneaton (Mr. Olner) on securing the debate. As he said, it is important because of the ESA ministerial meeting that will take place on 5 and 6 December. He noted the small amount that this country spends on space activities. We have only to look at the expenditures of some other countries to see a stark difference. That is worrying. It is not that if we do not engage in space activity, it will not happen. If we do not engage in it, other people will. That means not just that we will lose out, although clearly we will, but that the skills with the space industry and the profit related to it—the wealth of a country can be measured in many ways—will be lost to this country and go elsewhere. Where will those things go? Clearly the United States of America is spending vast sums on space activity—it always has—but we should look at China. It has an ambition to put a man or woman on the moon, and there are a number of other activities that the Chinese want to engage in. The Chinese do not want to do that for nothing. They know the importance of space, which is why they want to be involved and why they are spending somewhere in the region of $620 million on it. That figure will increase. The decisions to be taken next month are important for us. The hon. Gentleman referred to the fact that DEFRA plans to spend something like £2 million a year on space, which is a ridiculous sum of money. He spoke about natural disasters and climate change. Everybody talks about climate change, and we must do a lot more about it, but that will not happen on its own. A vast amount must be invested and, frankly, £2 million is chicken feed in the context of what we need to do.