MPs demand protection for EU researchers in the UK

The government should make an “immediate commitment” to exempt European Union researchers from potential immigration controls, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has said.

Stephen Metcalfe, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, told Research Fortnight that he was seeking “urgent reassurance” that the status of EU students and researchers in the UK would be protected “whatever happens”.

Writing in the Leaving the EU: Implications and opportunities for science and research report, the committee acknowledged that the government had offered early assurances to EU researchers, but said that more certainty was needed.