§ Mrs. PeacockTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if, in the light of Her Majesty's Government's stance at the recent Hague meeting of the European Space Agency and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Hermes project, he will make a statement on his plans for unilateral initiatives in this field and for the promotion of the United Kingdom space research effort.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe declined to join the Hermes programme because we were not satisfied that there were adequate industrial, economic, commercial or scientific benefits to justify the considerable expenditure involved. We are studying and evaluating proposals for the next generation of space launchers, including re-usable spaceplanes such as Hotol.