Space & Technology

Space

According to the government:

‘The UK space sector continues to thrive, growing at over 7% per year and is currently worth £11.3 billion to the UK economy. With over 5,000 jobs created in the last two years, it employs over 34,000 people and supports a further 72,000 jobs in other sectors.’

It can be interesting to underline that growing investment in the space sector has supported numerous technological innovations that we are all taking advantage of, by enjoying in our daily lives (internet, mobile phones, satellite TV), as well as in other fields such as healthcare and education.

The current budget for the UK Space Agency (UKSA) is about £470m, our proposal is to steadily increase this to £1bln over the next 4 years, helping to create more high quality jobs.

We also advocate closer cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), increasing our contributions from 9.5% to 20% over the same period.

Fusion

As briefly mentioned in the environment policy, we would continue to heavily support fusion technology. The first fusion plant will be built in Nottinghamshire, which is set to be up and running by 2040.

Fusion is a ‘green’ energy, with no harmful waste, it’s extremely cheap and limitless.

This will bring down the cost of energy bills significantly and reduce reliance on imported energy.

We will work closely with our partners at ITER & EUROfusion to ensure a successful implementation of the plants in a timely manner.

Aviation

In the same vein, considerable changes in the aviation industry will trigger a positive environmental impact and energy improvements.

In line with the newly proposed environment policy, we would further invest in liquid hydrogen planes, as they produce zero carbon, with roll out beginning in 2030.

By 2040 zero carbon planes will make up 50% of the total amount of planes over British skies, by 2050 this will rise to 100%.

Government investment in this area is currently £15m, we feel this is completely insufficient in order to make this revolution happen, therefore we must massively increase the investment to stay in line with international competitors.

As illustrated above, targeted and optimised investments in valuable and promising technologies will significantly contribute to rapid improvements, not only in the quality of life, but also in economic prosperity.