Theresa May's 'pie in the sky' satellite plan scrapped

A plan to replace the EU’s satellite navigation system with a post-Brexit UK equivalent is being scrapped by the Government amid reports Theresa May’s strategy for the technology was “unrealistic”.

Mrs May planned for the UK to have its own satellite network for GPS, replicating a US system and the Galileo network built by the EU.

The post-Brexit UK service, GNSS, has been mothballed after policymakers decided it was expensive and unnecessary.

An industry source told Politico: “It was always a bit pie in the sky that we were going to build a global system.

“There are a lot of drains on the government funding right now with Covid-19 and building something that you don’t have to build doesn’t seem the right way to go about things.”

It is understood that contracts already issued for GNSS have now been discontinued.

The GNSS system will be replaced with a new project the Government said would “explore new and alternative ways that could be used to deliver vital satellite navigation services to the United Kingdom”.

It is expected to have smaller ambitions than Mrs May’s original plan.

Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, said the new project would “draw on the strengths of the UK’s already thriving space industry to understand our requirements for a robust and secure satellite navigation system”.