Aviation Industry

Sarah Owen Excerpts

Wednesday 18th November 2020 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I thank the right hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) for securing the debate.

We in Luton are proud of our airport and its aviation industry. Thousands of local jobs depend on the airport and its supply chain, but the industry has been hit by a double whammy. Coronavirus has taken foreign travel off the table for millions of people and, coupled with the Government’s unforgivable lack of sector-specific support for workers and the industry, that risks ripping the heart out of my town’s economy.

It is not just pesky Labour MPs on this side of the Chamber who are crying out for support, but the industry, workers, charities in Luton who rely on our airport’s support, and Luton council, which is intrinsically linked with the airport. We in airport towns are all worried about what will be left for our constituents and their jobs in 12 to 18 months’ time.

My hon. Friend the Member for Luton South (Rachel Hopkins) and I have raised the issues faced by aviation workers in our town whenever we have been able to—we will never stop fighting to save the jobs of the people who we represent. Every time, however, we have received the same stock answer, which I am sure the Minister has in front of him again: the Government

“have confirmed that we are prepared to enter discussions with individual companies seeking bespoke support as a last resort, having exhausted all other options.”

I am pretty sure that everyone in the room has received that response. Will the Minister tell us what discussions have taken place and how many jobs have they saved? What are the criteria? Have any green commitments been secured for that support?

Does saving thousands of jobs not represent value for taxpayers’ money? Is this about saving the jobs of my constituents or saving the pay checks of their bosses? How many more times will those of us in the Chamber with airports in their constituencies have to come here to ask the Government to support the industry, as the Governments of France, Germany and Spain have done, only to receive platitudes but no action?

The Government should know full well that this is exactly the sort of behaviour from politicians that the public hate: all talk, no action. In fact, despite the Government’s promises to do whatever it takes to get people through covid, they clearly have a blind spot when it comes to airport workers and airlines. Where is the response to job losses in Luton? Where is the plan for testing at airports, for which the industry has been crying out for months? The Government’s travel corridor policy is failing.

There is still time for the Minister to prove me wrong, and I hope that he does. I hope that he acts to save thousands of jobs in my town of Luton and in all the towns represented here today.

Aviation Sector

Sarah Owen Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

I thank all those who have secured the debate, and I hope colleagues will understand my offering special thanks to my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Luton South (Rachel Hopkins), for helping to make this debate finally happen.

I cannot stress enough the urgency of the situation faced by airline and airport workers in Luton right now. For us, this is for not only our airport but our town’s whole economy. I welcome the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Witney (Robert Courts), to his place. I really hope that he takes this opportunity to listen and to act, with his first major act being to save thousands of jobs in Luton and save this vital industry.

The seriousness of the pandemic is an existential threat to our airlines, our airports and the workers who keep them running. People in my constituency who work at airlines such as easyJet and Wizz Air at Luton airport and across the supply chains cannot afford to wait for the Government to carry on dithering on support for the airline industry. As has been stated, it is not just specific sectors but specific areas like Luton that need Government support.

My hon. Friend the Member for Luton South and I have been calling for the Government to protect jobs and support our town since March. We have written to Ministers. I have lost count of the number of calls we have been on with industry leaders, workers and trade unions. I have had countless items of correspondence from airline and aviation staff asking what action the Government are prepared to take and why Governments in France and Germany are supporting their workers but ours are not.

As the furlough scheme comes to an end, our workers face a cliff edge, and they are still wondering what happens next. The mixed messages need to end. We need clear, sector-specific support; increased testing, track and trace; and international co-operation, not competition. While the Government promised us that they would do whatever it takes to get people in Luton through the crisis, in so many ways, we are still waiting. When I say that I will do whatever it takes, I mean it. I will meet whoever it takes and twist as many arms in Government as I can until they listen to the sector, to Luton, to airline staff and to the trade unions, extend the furlough scheme and protect as many jobs as possible.

At the start of the pandemic, the Conservatives promised Luton that they would do whatever it takes to get us through this pandemic. There is still a chance to keep that promise, but the situation is urgent. Time is running out; they cannot wait much longer. The promise to do whatever it takes will be broken, more jobs will be lost and lives will be ruined if action is not taken now. We need to see the Government step up and give sector-specific support for the industry, for workers and for towns like Luton.

All-lane Running Motorways

Sarah Owen Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2020 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Champion]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I will come on to the reality of the stopped-vehicle protection system, which unfortunately is somewhat shocking.

The smart motorway is meant to be smart, and its systems should come into play—for example, to close lanes to traffic automatically—but that of course relies on the stranded vehicle being detected. It pains me to say, however, that the vast majority of England’s smart motorways are unable to deliver on that. Almost all smart motorways are underpinned by Highways England’s MIDAS—motorway incident detection and automatic signalling—system which, by monitoring traffic flow, allows congestion to be managed. But the system has a significant and life-limiting flaw: it is unable to identify a lone stationary vehicle.

A 2016 Highways England report found that detecting a stranded vehicle took an average of 17 minutes. Safety is compromised still further by Highways England allowing up to three minutes to close a lane once a stationary vehicle has been detected. In Jason Mercer’s case, detecting his stationary vehicle took more than six minutes, and the lane in which he was stranded was only closed after the crash that claimed his life.

Stationary vehicle detection, or SVD, technology reduces the time taken to spot stranded vehicles by an average of 16 minutes. Highways England committed to fitting SVD throughout the smart motorway system in 2016. That has not happened. Four years on, SVD is in operation on only two sections of the M25, covering just 24 miles of England’s more than 230 miles of smart motorway. The Highways England chief executive acknowledged that, had SVD been installed, a number of fatalities on all-lane running motorways could have been prevented.

Even where SVD is in place, questions remain about its effectiveness.

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing a debate on this incredibly important issue. Over recent months, sadly, there have been a number of fatalities and accidents on the stretch of the M1 by Luton. Since raising the issue, a number of residents have echoed concerns about the safety of that stretch of smart motorway. Does my hon. Friend agree that any review by the Government is welcome, but that including in it all the voices of road users and workers is vital?

[Sarah Champion]

I completely agree, and I compliment my hon. Friend on already raising the issue in the Chamber. The consultation was always flawed, and all the evidence mounting is just not being listened to.

A recent report in The Sunday Times revealed that the system’s own chief designer has highlighted weaknesses in the system, warning:

“The density of traffic at higher volumes means it is very difficult to detect stopped lone vehicles without an unimaginable number of false alarms.”

The Minister must not believe Highways England when it tells him that SVD is the panacea for safety improvements for all-lane running schemes. It is not; it is seriously flawed.

The risks to motorists do not end when a stranded vehicle is detected. Once detected, the system should close the lane that the stranded vehicle is in by marking it with a red X on the gantry. In 2016, non-compliance with red X signs was 7% to 8%. However, research by the RAC this year found that more than a fifth of motorists had driven in a lane closed by a red X sign in the past year. If a motorist is detected and lane closures are put in place, their chance of being hit by an oncoming vehicle remains alarmingly high. It will require a concerted education and enforcement programme to reduce non-compliance, and I urge the Minister to commit to that without delay.