Manufacturing Skills

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. For many people growing up in Portsmouth, the shipyard was a constant visual reminder that we are a city and a country that made things, and that we made important things: ships that defended our country, protected our freedom and protected British expertise around the world.

The Portsmouth that people remember was full of people with skilled jobs—men and women who took pride in their work, in what they produced and in the contributions that they were making to their communities. There was a clear connection between effort, skill and opportunity. Young people could see a future for themselves. They could look around the city and see where hard work and talent could take them. Unfortunately, over the years, that connection has been weakened. The loss of shipbuilding and other industrial jobs under the Conservatives has meant that too many young people today are not seeing the same opportunities as previous generations. But it is not just a challenge for young people; it is also a challenge for British business. Manufacturers repeatedly tell us that they struggle to recruit people with the right skills.

Before entering politics, I was a teacher for 24 years. Throughout that time, I saw countless young people with enormous potential, but too often those talents were not valued in the way that they should have been. This has to change. We need an education system that values technical excellence just as highly as academic achievement—a system that recognises that our country needs first-class engineers as much as it needs lawyers, accountants or academics.

If we truly want to reindustrialise Britain, we must first rebuild the pipeline of skills that make industrial success possible. That is why this Government’s reforms are so important. I am delighted that from the age of 14, young people will have the opportunity to combine core academic subjects such as English, maths and science with high-quality vocational subjects. They will be able to spend more time with employers, gain real-world experience and develop the practical skills that businesses are looking for, but more importantly, they will be able to see a pathway. That connection matters enormously. The local connection means opportunity for young people and confidence for employers that they can invest, expand and create jobs, knowing that the skilled workers they need will be available.

I have long argued that apprenticeships and training need to be more flexible and more responsive to the needs of different sectors, so I am pleased that the Government are taking these steps with manufacturing. Fixing the skills shortage is not about filling vacancies; it is about building our national capability. Nowhere is that more evident than in a sector that is extremely important to my constituency: the space sector.

The next iteration of the Skynet satellite programme is currently out for procurement. This is a crucial decision for our national security, sovereign space capability and industrial future—and for my city’s future. At Airbus in Portsmouth, highly skilled workers manufacture the payloads, the brains of the satellite. Airbus remains the only company capable of building large spacecraft end to end in the United Kingdom.

The Skynet programme sustains 3,000 highly skilled jobs directly and supports 18,000 jobs across the supply chain. These are skills and capabilities built over decades and they cannot be easily recreated if lost. If we are serious about reindustrialisation, we must be serious about protecting the skills and industrial capabilities that we already have. We cannot simply create shiny new jobs; we must protect the ones we have already. It is not enough to talk about creating skilled jobs if we fail to safeguard the jobs that still exist.

I share the Prime Minister’s ambition to back British industry, strengthen our capabilities and create good jobs in every part of the country. That includes my city. I ask the Minister to impress upon colleagues in the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence the importance of protecting and sustaining these world-class space manufacturing skills in Portsmouth. We know that rebuilding British manufacturing strength begins with investment in skills, but it must continue with supporting the skills and industry that we already have. Ultimately, it is about ensuring that the next generation can once again look at my city, just as I looked at Portsmouth shipyard growing up, and see a future full of opportunities, purpose and pride.