Government protects science budget in real terms

Chancellor George Osborne has today laid out the Government's spending plans for the next five years. Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, has responded to announcements regarding spending on science. 

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said:

“The Chancellor rightly declared the UK to be brilliant at science and by protecting the science budget in real terms he is giving British scientists an improved chance of maintaining our global leadership, improving lives and driving the economy.  The last five years have seen cuts to the science budget of around £1 billion, so protection from such cuts over the next five years is to be welcomed.  This settlement does however, still leave us well behind our competitors in terms of the percentage of our GDP we spend on research.  There is also still detail to be looked at and we will be doing that over the coming hours and days.”