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Experts react to the budget announced today by the Chancellor.
Beth Thompson, Executive Director of Policy & Partnerships at Wellcome, the UK’s largest non-governmental funder of research, said:
Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society said:
“It is good to see the government embrace the spirit of innovation in the UK. Most of the UK’s fastest growing companies are based on the application of science and research, whether that is in AI or healthtech, fintech or clean energy. The challenge for government is to take the long-term view, not only in supporting the later stages of applying scientific knowledge but also by ensuring that we do not strangle the discovery science that drives it. In next year’s spending review the Government must get that balance right and maintain strong support for the knowledge creation that is at the heart of long-term, sustainable growth.
“It is also welcome to see that there may be improvements on visas to help support innovative companies attract the scientific expertise from around the world the UK needs to complement our own home-grown talent.
“Reallocations of capital budgets to support defence will impact all areas of government spending, including science. Security and defence are a central role of government and ultimately are based on scientific knowledge and innovation. It is not just the battlefield hardware that keeps us safe. In the Second World War it was maths that underpinned codebreaking. And engineering gave us the spitfire, physics produced RADAR and biology and chemistry delivered anti-biotics for our wounded soldiers. Churchill understood this and so should his successors. Today’s drones are built on research and I have visited the scientists in universities in Ukraine that are at the cutting edge of those developments. AI and quantum computing will play a crucial role in our future security. We must continue to support discovery science because if we are smarter, we will be stronger.
“The Chancellor’s ‘unshakeable commitment’ to net-zero is also clear and needed. We now have to invest in developing and rolling out technologies that can decarbonise our economy, increase energy security, and reduce energy costs.”
Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering said:
“So many of the pressing challenges that John Healey’s first UK Budget has highlighted, have an engineering dimension.
Innovation
“We welcome the new measures to support the UK’s deep tech businesses to stay and scale in the UK. As the Academy’s forthcoming State of Deep Tech report highlights, the UK is a global leader, but persistent growth capital gaps risk the loss of value created by our most innovative companies. The real test will be whether this capital reaches high-potential engineering and technology companies at the pace and scale required to support their growth in the UK.
AI
“Expansion of the Sovereign AI fund to support physical and industrial AI presents a major opportunity for UK engineering to help improve productivity and capability across the economy through safe and effective AI adoption. Regulatory capability and standards are a UK strength, so it is good to see investment in building on those foundations for AI.
“The new data centre covenant responds to many of the concerns that the Academy’s National Engineering Policy Centre has highlighted around the sustainable development of AI. The focus on environmental reporting, maintaining environmental standards and local benefit will help extend the positive impact of AI locally.
Energy
“It is critical to help households transition to electrified heating systems and to support technology adoption of solar and batteries to make the wider energy system cleaner, more secure and more resilient. We are pleased to see the retention of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and applaud new plans to establish a Warm Homes Loan Scheme.
“The decision to reduce support for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCUS) and Hydrogen deployment however is disappointing. They are both vital components of a low carbon energy system and CCUS is currently the Government’s key route to decarbonising gas-fired generation and hard-to-abate sectors.”
Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy said:
“The Chancellor faced a difficult task at this Budget given the economic pressure caused by the conflict in the Middle East and its impact on energy prices and inflation.
“In that context we welcome the steps he has taken to ease cost of living pressures, and back the government’s long-term vision of a cheaper, cleaner energy system.
“We believe the government could go further in cutting the link between volatile gas prices and consumer electricity bills, by building out new renewables and nuclear infrastructure, solving the grid workforce crisis, and taking direct control of gas generation and battery rollout to lower prices.
“Government rightly believes that in order to secure long-term growth we need to rethink our relationship with Europe, and we back the Prime Minister’s commitment to reopen the debate on Brexit and the UK’s EU membership.”
On defence spending:
“We welcome the commitment to fully fund the Defence Investment Plan and to meet the 3% defence spending target in 2030.
“This commitment must be honoured, and we stand ready to work with government to ensure that this money goes into creating good, unionised jobs in Britian that can support families and local communities.
On science:
“It is incredibly disappointing that no action was taken to avert the impending cuts to vital public sector science budgets.
“These short-sighted cuts will cause irreparable damage to the UK’s standing as a science nation and must be rethought. Prospect will continue our campaign to reverse these cuts and back public sector science.
On civil service reform:
“The government continues to insist that AI deployment will result in huge savings within the public sector, but this is not the experience of our members who report that AI is not a magic bullet to fix the civil service.
“Where AI is rolled out in government it should be done in partnership with workers, with the aim of genuinely solving workload problems, not as an excuse to cut jobs and bank short-term savings.
“Meanwhile there was little on ensuring Departments and ALBs have the resources and flexibilities required to recruit and retain the skilled specialists and professionals needed to staff the smart, strategic and innovative civil service the Treasury says it wants to see.
“We are concerned that the Government seems to have doubled down on arbitrary targets for savings to civil service budgets that risk damaging service delivery and the efficiency of the public sector as a whole.”
On regulation:
“We welcome the small change of tone from the government on regulation, recognising that good regulation is good for the economy.
“Prospect will be seeking early engagement with the new Better Regulation Executive to ensure it is informed by the experience of our members working both in regulatory agencies and regulated businesses, and considers the overwhelming evidence that the underfunding of our regulators is behind so many of our problems in regulation.”
On self-employed workers:
“The introduction of paternity allowance for self-employed dads is a win for members in our Bectu sector and our campaigning work to improve rights for the self-employed. But taking forward badly thought-through tax reforms simply demonstrates that many parts of government still don’t get the reality of our members’ working lives and the intermittent and unpredictable nature of work. We will be lobbying hard against these changes.”
Tom Grinyer, chief executive of the IOP said:
“There is welcome news on strategic AI, support for sovereign technological capacity and investment in the growth ecosystem; from the national wealth fund and the British Business Bank and support for founders, which will all make a real difference.
“We know the chancellor faces some tough decisions at next year’s spending review and long-term, strategic support for R&D and the physics skills pipeline is going to be crucial if he wants to meet his aspirations for good growth in every postcode, innovation, defence and national security.
“Physics knowledge and skills drive many of the technologies and businesses that will keep the UK secure and competitive. From advanced materials, AI and quantum technologies to cyber security and sensing – that’s why we now need a strategic decade long plan for physics alongside the government’s own soon to be announced ten-year plan.”
Dr Alicia Greated, Executive Director, Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE):
On the budget delivered today:
“The Chancellor is clearly pro innovation and recognises the value it brings to the UK. Alongside the commitment to support innovative businesses and entrepreneurs, no major announcement of changes to the structure of R&D spending is a positive to be taken from today’s budget. CaSE and the sector have long been calling for stability and predictability. Given the machinery of government changes and the funding restructure at UKRI currently in the works, it is welcome that this budget brings stability and no additional large changes. However, as always, we will need to scrutinise the accompanying documents before making our final assessment.
“There are other developments on the horizon that we also need to keep a watching brief on. The devolution of R&D funding and reprioritisation across Government to fund defence could have significant impact on the research landscape. CaSE will analyse the detail of all of these as they become available, which we expect to be in the near future.”
On the defence investment plan and cuts to departmental capital budgets:
“We recognise the importance of funding defence and appreciate that the Government is choosing to spread the cost of cuts across all departments. However, we are concerned that with departments having to make savings in their capital expenditure budgets, R&D may end up being disproportionately targeted.
“Departments are being asked to focus ‘on finding efficiencies, cancelling or delaying lower priority programmes and remaining ruthlessly focussed on value for money for the taxpayer’. Whilst each department’s capital budget has a different make up, there is a risk research budgets across the board are seen as more expendable when put up against major infrastructure and other procurement costs. It is essential further guidance is given to departments and oversight provided to ensure that R&D doesn’t become a sacrificial lamb.”
Professor Sir Andrew Morris CBE FRSE PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said:
“Today’s Budget backs research and innovation. It rightly recognises what AI can do for NHS productivity and supports the development of local innovation clusters. Ring-fencing prevention spending is an encouraging step towards the Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘preventative state’ that invests in people’s success, which will benefit the health and resilience of our population and economy. Over £1bn of public-private investment will support health research and the development of transformative medicines across the country, helping to make the UK a powerhouse for discovery and development.
“Continued investment will be essential. With next year’s Spending Review expected to be tight, research funding needs to be maintained if the Government is to stick to its manifesto commitment to replace short funding cycles with ten-year budgets. This certainty and stability matters to researchers, investors and industry partners for research to flourish.”
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