Space Debris

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a good point. We have to work with international partners, whether the US, Japan or the European Space Agency. Currently, the Government are developing space sustainable standards with commercial space sector investors and insurers as part of our wider regulatory reforms. We must bear in mind that reforms have to be outcome-based and have clarity and certainty. This is why we are attracting a lot of foreign-based companies that are establishing operations in the UK, such as Astroscale, which I mentioned earlier.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

Following the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Harris, we have threats to space infrastructure from hostile actors. The noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, identified space debris. There is also a threat from space weather. On 11 and 12 November, we saw a significant solar storm hitting the earth, and the National Audit Office is now looking at doing an inquiry, reporting in spring, on that issue. With all that in mind, are the Government considering that we do not necessarily have to digitise every service that we provide and every piece of infrastructure? Perhaps keeping them non-digital would be a way to ensure resilience.

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

That is a very interesting position to take, but whether we like it or not, we are in the digital age. We cannot go back to the analogue age. Because we are in the digital age, we rely on satellites, and it is very important that we ensure that it is safe up there.