Government must outline how it will protect aerospace industry amid another chaotic U-turn - Chi Onwurah

“We need a proper space strategy, instead we have a government flying by the seat of its pants.

“We warned Ministers that attempting to duplicate Galileo would be costly, and that they should focus on getting a deal that would allow UK scientists to continue their important research.

“This incompetent chopping and changing comes at a cost. The government must urgently outline how much taxpayer money has been spent on these contracts, and how it intends to protect jobs and businesses in our vital aerospace industry that will be hit by yet another chaotic U-turn.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• The government also invested £400m in Oneweb, ignoring the concerns of civil servants, to help replace Galileo's sat-nav system - despite the fact that Oneweb currently has no sat-nav capability.