Fears for science industry after UK quits EU
PA Archive/PA Images - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images
A group of MPs have called on the Government to ensure Brexit does not impact science
MPs have urged the Government not to slam the door on scientists and experts from overseas after Brexit.
The Commons Science and Technology Committee also said the Government should fully commit to making up any shortfall in research funding as a result of the break from Brussels.
The committee added the Government's industrial strategy should have gone further in acknowledging the way the process of leaving the European Union would shape the country's economic future.
The cross-party group welcomed the £2 billion a year promised by Prime Minister Theresa May for research and development, but said the extra cash should be a 'down payment' on the way to public and private funding reaching 3% of GDP.
You may also want to watch:
Committee chairman Stephen Metcalfe said: 'A regulatory regime that is well-crafted and tuned to our post-Brexit international research and trading relationships – both with Europe and globally – will be essential.
'The Government has an opportunity to do more to strengthen the links between the industrial strategy and Brexit as the exit negotiations now get under way.'
Most Read
- 1 These are the 322 Tory MPs who voted against extending free school meals to children
- 2 Priti Patel set to hand private firms £28 million in government contracts to deport asylum seekers from UK
- 3 Betty Boothroyd delivers scathing assessment of Boris Johnson's government
- 4 Brexit shambles: A stress of our own making
- 5 Michael Gove's Brexit fantasy is leading us down a perilous path
- 6 Boris Johnson 'plans to resign' in six months because he can't live on £150k salary
- 7 German MEP tells Boris Johnson he 'owes' Britons a Brexit deal as she urged a return to EU trade talks
- 8 How the Daily Star became Boris Johnson's biggest critic
- 9 Question Time: Ex-Tory minister accused of making 'sickening' comment about free schools meals row
- 10 'Shameful' Tory minister defends government memo attacking Marcus Rashford's free school meals call
The MPs also called for ministers to give a 'firm commitment to EU researchers working and studying in the UK that they will continue to have a secure position here post-Brexit'.
As part of the industrial strategy, the PM announced increases in government investment worth £2 billion per year by 2020 for research and development (R&D).
Tory MP Metcalfe said: 'I want the Government to see that as an initial investment towards meeting a target - for the UK to be spending 3% of GDP on R&D - that our committee has repeatedly pushed for.
'While it is too soon to know whether Brexit will end up bringing less or more inward science investment to the UK in the long-term, the Government should be ready to make good any net shortfall in the short-term with further funding for science.'
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
