Chancellor stops short of ruling out cuts to R&D budget

Jeremy Hunt cares “very much” about UK R&D but fails to promise to ring-fence spending

Newly appointed chancellor Jeremy Hunt stopped short of ruling out cuts to the UK’s R&D budget as he said government departments would need to “redouble their efforts to find savings”, despite praising universities and research.

There would be “difficult decisions” to make “on both tax and spending” and “all departments will need to redouble their efforts to find savings”, the chancellor warned yesterday morning.