Former MP for Macclesfield
Could my right hon. Friend say something about the composition of the new Airworthiness Requirements Board? In the past the members of the Air Registration Board were drawn from people in aviation who had rendered great service to the country. Will this practice continue?
When discussing the long waiting period, will the right hon. Gentleman say why the House was not given the opportunity to discuss the Edwards Report?
Does my right hon. Friend recall that 2,600 redundancies at A. V. Roe in the North-West of England were due entirely to the cancellation of the TSR2 and the purchase of American fighter aircraft, which put my constituents out of work?
Will my hon. Friend repudiate in the strongest possible terms the disgraceful suggestion by the right hon. Member for Barnsley (Mr. Mason)? Is there nothing to which the Opposition will not stoop these days to create trouble? Have not the Government done everything they can, bearing in mind that these wrecks are outside territorial waters?
rose—
Britain has the lead in this field. Will my hon. Friend give an assurance that nothing will be done to neglect the lead which we now have, realising that 15 years from now we could well get rid of concrete runways and use vertical take-off?
In cataloguing the various projects which have been turned down, would the right hon. Gentleman go back a little further, to the TSR2? Will he accept that had the TSR2 proved itself, Rolls-Royce would have had a run of orders?
In the latter part of his speech, the right hon. Gentleman did a great disservice to the British aerospace industry. When he talks about the possibilities of the Harrier being cancelled and so on, he will not help the situation. I will explore the point about Lock-heeds later in my speech, but Britain as a whole owes the Rolls-Royce concern a great deal. The Merlin engine in the Hurricanes...
