Global Navigation Satellite System

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts
Wednesday 10th March 2021

(3 years, 2 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Con)
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Indeed. I know that my noble friend has great experience in these matters. Collaboration with partners and industry will be vital for success in this field. A new UK capability could offer opportunities to deliver more on global Britain through strengthening our international relationships. We would most likely seek to use our overseas territories for ground-based stations.

Baroness Wheatcroft Portrait Baroness Wheatcroft (CB) [V]
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My Lords, it is highly regrettable that our Brexit negotiations failed to secure a deal over Galileo. Are there any plans to try to revisit that and negotiate a deal, rather than ploughing our own course? Could the Minister also tell us about the National Space Council, which was announced in June 2019? How often has it met? Was it consulted over the purchase, which others have mentioned, of OneWeb, which was done against the advice of the Civil Service?

Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Con)
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The answer to the noble Baroness’s first question is no. The UK National Space Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, will continue to play an important role in future government affairs.