Chancellor champions science

Today the Treasury announced a flat cash settlement of £4.6billion for the operational science budget with a commitment of £1.1billion a year in capital investment.

Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society said:

“Last year the chancellor came to the Royal Society and gave a speech that put science and innovation at the heart of long term sustainable economic growth.  He was asked to provide the money to back that up and today he has done that.

“There is a growing consensus across parliament and in the business community that spending on science is an investment in the future.   The Government has protected its contribution and we now need to find ways to encourage greater commitment from industry, which is still under investing in research.

“In recent years science has suffered, as maintaining investment means a real terms cut due to inflation, but in the context of cuts elsewhere, science has been relatively protected  Today’s announcement should be seen as a foundation for a long term strategy of increased investment.  At present our economic competitors are outspending us in science but are not outperforming us.  If we want to stay ahead and build on our competitive advantage we need to not only match the investment of other countries but to surpass it.”