Science committee hopeful asks for increased research budget

Stephen Metcalfe, one of the Conservative MPs vying for the chairmanship of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, has asked the Treasury for the research budget to be increased.

Metcalfe, Conservative MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, used the oral questions session in the House of Commons on 16 June to ask Greg Hands, chief secretary to the Treasury, whether he would “make good” the 15 per cent real-terms decrease in the research budget overseen by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in coalition in the last parliament. 

In response, Hands said that capital spending had doubled in the last parliament, and that decisions on science funding would be made in the comprehensive spending review.