Civil Aviation Bill

The hon. Gentleman has just made my point for me. It is most unlikely that the Civil Aviation Authority would want to ban an airline for commercial reasons. It has a long history of focusing on aviation safety and its other duties. Its French equivalent is extremely competent and has a comparable level of technical expertise, but it is much more subject to Government pressures than the CAA. Finally, without wishing to try your patience, Mr. Deputy Speaker, we cannot discuss the real danger to aviation safety because the amendment dealing with the transfer of powers from the CAA to European Aviation Safety Agency on certificates of airworthiness—the cornerstone of air safety—was not selected. The fact that the individuals concerned here and in France do not want to transfer along with those powers opens up a frightening gap in the medium term. To conclude, while we have the greatest sympathy with Liberal Democrat concerns for aviation safety, we do not think that their proposal would improve it.