Chris Skidmore has said that the UK should have a 10-year plan for research, ensuring that the “wheels of fortune” of regular spending reviews do not negatively affect R&D.
Responding to a question from Research Fortnight at the Royal Society of Biology’s annual parliamentary links day on 25 June, the science minister said the UK should “go the way of Germany”. In May, Germany announced that research budgets would increase by 3 per cent a year for the next 10 years.
The minister said that the UK should mimic this “depoliticising” of research, adding that he personally would be lobbying for the change in the future. This would take the UK “away from these wheels of fortune that exist for the spending review that comes up every three to four years”.
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