Thread by @pmdfoster

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EXCORIATING OpEd from ⁦@PauleverittADS⁩ on ⁦⁦@grantshapps⁩ decision not to seek assoc membership of EU air safety body EASA after #brexit - says govt is ideological and not listening. 🔥🔥🔥1/thread

aviationweek.com/air-transport/…

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps This is a doozy of an article, seething with frustration.

Point 1. @ADSgroupUK the Aviation industry lobby is NOT giving up on this.

"Continuing our participation in the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is industry’s top priority" /2

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK Point 2. EASA pays, and has enabled UK to "influence in one of the two major global regulators, and eased access to our export markets, not just in Europe but around the world."

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK Point 3 THAT INCLUDES new UAVs that @grantshapps said would better off:

"Companies of all sizes, from the biggest names in international aerospace to the innovative start-ups developing cutting edge urban air vehicle technology are clear that EASA is the best option" Zing! /4

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK Point 4: That applies to GREEN tech too, which is coming on stream - what ever @grantshapps says about future technology.

Feel the burrrrn here in this section that starts "When they have listened..." Govt has understoo this. Ouch. /5

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK Point 5. BUT THEY DON'T LISTEN. Everitt says openly that @michaelgove and @nadhimzahawi had promised to be evidenced-led, to consult industry and were "open" to looking at EASA links...and then @grantshapps just goes to DC and announces 'we're off'. /6

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi He then adds it will cost a LOT to build up CAA to correct levels (ADS says £40m a year v current £4m annual sub to EASA) and to what end?

"This is a gamble with much at stake, but without any clear prize on offer." A totally reckless punt on the future of a £36bn industry /7

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi But there IS an alternative, concludes Everitt - which is a Swiss-style deal that gives seat on management board, no vote, and NO ECJ oversight also, with a dispute-resolution by a Joint Cmme. /8

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi He concludes by warning the government to seek "arrangements based on evidence, not on ideology" - let that be stated for the record if, years hence, there is ever an Iraq-style inquiry into how these negotiations were handled, with heed or consultation. /9

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi Because the crazy part is that the UK was an absolute leader in building EASA - through people like @AviationVincent - and I understand that a lot of the top bods that @grantshapps thinks will come home to staff new CAA have German citizenship and won't leave. /10

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent The maddest part is that the government has these back-of-a-fag-packet ideas - like, say on UAVs - but whenever you test them on industry (same with Tech, Pharma, Autos etc) people who actually DO this stuff just roll their eyes. Say it's like "being governed by 6th formers". /11

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent One Whitehall story goes that Dominic Cummings tried to block UK payments to the European Space Agency (ESA) - not an EU body - so we could spend the money on a UK programme. Until it was explained such a thing didn't/wouldn't/couldn't exist alone /12

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent So in aviation, the industry experts tell me, we don't make whole planes, just bits of planes.

Wings, engines, landing gear, avionics – which are then combined with bits made in other countries. Even those major bits are made up of smaller bits made in multiple places. /13

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent That's why the industry body says that "EASA gives us simple, straightforward, do-it-once certification. This has been a major benefit to UK aerospace over the last 15 years."

So why wreck that? And worse, HOW can you wreck that with no credible alternative plan? /14

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent Because the hard truth is that anything we make in the UK is going to have to meet EASA and FAA standards regardless. These are the two dominant global regulators. The CAA is not going to change this. The industry says there is no advantage. /15

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent Am told that a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) could solve some of these issues if we're prepared to pretty slavishly follow EASA lines - but as one longtime industry regulator tells me: "Do we really want to surrender our voice in future regulation?" /16

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent Because am told that Swiss and Norwegians, while not having a vote in EASA really DO get listened to - they are not without influence. Green tech is going to revolutionise lot of aviation, do we want to be outside that room? /17

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent In the end this is NOT about the sky falling (sorry) but putting the UK at a marginal disadvantage - so that over time R&D, manufacturing and capital investment will flow to our international rivals. /18

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent I just wait for the day, next Jan, for some Brexiteer to point to the sky and a flying plane and say 'See, you were doomongering, the planes are still flying' Gotcha! So advance warning: that isn't the point. /19

@PauleverittADS @grantshapps @ADSgroupUK @michaelgove @nadhimzahawi @AviationVincent The point is that Government is doing this without an apparent impact assessment or listening to industry...which I sometimes see disparaged as mere "producer interest".

I mean yeah, they PRODUCE stuff, and are INTERESTED in keeping on doing that work. Funny that. ENDS