Theresa May gives the go-ahead for a British satellite navigation system to rival the EU

Theresa May has reportedly given the go-ahead for Britain to start work on a British-made satellite navigation system to rival the European Union’s Galileo project.

Chancellor Philip Hammond signed off funding worth £100million to kick-start the project that would rival the EU’s system that Britain played a key role in creating, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Britain’s project is being launched because it is feared that the UK’s access to sensitive security information could be restricted after Brexit.

Galileo is a £9billion ($11.44 billion) satellite programme being developed by the EU as a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System. It was commissioned in 2003 and is due for completion by 2020.

The system has emerged as a flashpoint between Britain and the EU, which is already beginning to treat Britain as an outsider.

The European Commission started to exclude Britain and its companies from sensitive future work on Galileo ahead of the country’s exit from the EU in seven months time.

A spokeswoman for Britain’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy declined to comment. 

The EU has said Britain will be able to continue to use Galileo’s open signal, but that Britain’s military could be denied access to the encrypted version when the satellite becomes operational.

Galileo is a £9billion ($11.44 billion) satellite programme being developed by the EU as a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System. Pictured:  SSTL satellites Galileo Formation

The UK insists that for its involvement in the system to be worth continuing, it must be able to have detailed technical information about the PRS signal in order to rely on it for military purposes, something the EU is only prepared to grant to members of the bloc.

The UK’s future status as a ‘third country’ after Brexit means that its firms may not be able to participate in creating some of the more sensitive elements of the project.

Defence procurement minister Guto Bebb told MPs in June that Britain had the capacity to create a rival to Galileo at a cost of £3billion to £5billion.

Graham Turnock, the chief executive of the UK Space Agency, told The Telegraph: ‘We would like to continue to participate and we would still like a good outcome on Galileo but the signs I’m afraid are not terribly positive given the position and approach that the Commission has taken.’