Royal Society response to General Election results

Venki Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society, said: “This morning the Prime Minister promised ‘colossal’ investment in science, which backs up his campaign commitment to doubling public investment in science by 2024/5. This is a welcome commitment, which is central to addressing the pressing health, environmental, and economic issues that the PM has prioritised. It will also help us to build on our many strengths in UK science and innovation.

In addition to investment, we also need to remain open and outward facing if we are to build on our global leadership. We need to fully associate to European research programmes and we need an immigration system that makes global talent at all levels feel welcome in coming to the UK.

We also need reform of the education system to ensure that all of our young people have a broad and balanced education, including science and maths education to age 18, to be able to compete for the good jobs of the future. To achieve this, we will urgently need to address the serious shortfall in the supply of specialist teachers, especially in science, maths and computing.

The Government’s continued commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 is also welcome, and we need to press on with investing in the technologies that will deliver a cleaner, greener UK that sets a global standard.”