Tory response to the UK Space Program

[Darren Oliveiro-Priestnall]

Well having contacted my local MP about party policy towards the UK
space program I received the following response from the local Tory
candidate in under 24 hours which is pretty good going.

...
"Obviously as the local MP, I am very keen to support science and space investment
in particular because I know how crucial it is to our area. We have
published our manifesto today which has a lot of stuff which is relevant
to supporting not just small firms, but also hi-tech business in
particular. On science policy specifically, we want to build on the
strengths of the UK Space Agency, bringing responsibility for space
policy and budgets under one roof, overseen by a National Space Council
involving partners from government and industry. We also want to
maintain our long-standing membership of the European Space Agency,
seeking to increase commercial returns from future public investment,
including the commitment to the GMES climate monitoring programme, and
we would review UK participation in manned spaceflight if a strong
commercial and scientific case could be made. We want to establish a
clear regulatory framework for commercial spacecraft to operate from UK
spaceports and review insurance and indemnity requirements under the
Outer Space Act to ensure that UK space licensing requirements are as
competitive as they can be. I hope this is helfpul
"

I would say that's a promising response and suggests an open minded approach to
the commercial space program in the UK moving forward.