18 July 2019
The President of the Royal Society has warned Conservative leadership candidates Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit for science.
Venki Ramakrishnan has written to Johnson and Hunt saying:
“Little consideration is being given to the actual, real world impacts of a no-deal Brexit on research and innovation. In the interests of a long term vision of a prosperous, outward facing future for the UK, it is time to rule out this eventuality for good.”
The Royal Society has also published a new analysis of visa costs, which shows the UK to be prohibitively expensive compared to other leading scientific nations competing to recruit the best international talent. The upfront cost of a visa for a researcher to come and work in the UK is over £8,000, which compares to an average £1,500 for other leading scientific nations. The UK costs go up to £12,000 if the researcher wants to bring a partner and higher again if they have children.
The dangers of Brexit include: