The City watched with a mixture of envy and anxiety as Elon Musk’s SpaceX touched the public markets yesterday, achieving a valuation that makes the British space industry look like a penny stock. Today, the co-founder of the rocket giant had the audacity to lecture us on ‘innovation’ while British start-ups are still waiting for the FCA to decide what colour the paperwork should be.
Let’s be candid. The UK space sector has potential – but potential doesn’t pay dividends. Venture capital is fleeing to jurisdictions where regulators don’t treat licensing like a root canal. So when a leading British space entrepreneur, Tom Standage of Orbital Launch UK, calls for ‘regulatory certainty’, he’s not being polite. He’s flagging a capital flight risk.
Consider the bottom line. The UK Space Agency has pledged £1.5bn of taxpayer money, but private investment remains tepid. Why? Because investors hate uncertainty more than volatility. A gilt yield spike? Fine. A regulator that takes 18 months to approve a launch license? That’s a deal-breaker.
Standage’s plea is a canary in the coal mine. Without a clear, stable framework, the only rockets launching from British soil will be those carrying our best engineers to Florida or Texas. The Treasury should listen. But given its track record of fiscal incontinence, I’m not holding my breath.
