Instead of nostalgia for industries of the past Andy Burnham should look to the stars

Britain s space industry is the definition of good growth in every postcode, but too many start-ups are forced to seek foreign buyers when they want to scale, says James Lockyer Andy Burnham has been desperate to turn back the clock lately. The mood music from the PM has been renationalise, regulate, back to the 1970s we go – like the backslapping at Labour’s conference for saving British Steel. At this rate, the Chancellor will probably be handing out free whippets for all at the Budget next week. Take steel in particular, which is by any definition a sunset industry. It employs roughly 35,000 people and gets more than its fair share of airtime. But we hear much, much less about a forward-looking “sunrise” sector which has created more than 55,000 jobs and contributes much more to UK plc. The UK space sector – which is my area of expertise – would kill for the media steel gets, and it has a great story to tell. The problem for space is that it doesn’t “look” like an industry,