§ 43. Mr. Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions his Department has now had with the Hawker Siddeley company on the development and potential of the A300B Airbus.
§ Mr. EmeryThere are regular contacts between my Department and the company on this and other aircraft projects on which it is engaged.
§ Mr. WintertonI thank my hon. Friend for his answer, but is he aware that Hawker Siddeley is, perhaps, the only aero-manufacturing company in this country which works at a profit? Does he not feel that the company has been starved of Government contracts and that they have gone, perhaps ill-advisedly, to other areas?
§ Mr. EmeryThe Government would certainly pay tribute to Hawker-Siddeley for all that it does in the aircraft industry, and I gladly do that. However, we have received no request for Government assistance towards any further development of the A300B airbus.