Balls promises to give ‘high priority’ to science spend

A Labour government would support science funding as part of a wide review of spending, shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said.

In a speech made at Thomson Reuters’ London headquarters on 3 June, Balls said Labour would complete a review of “every pound the government spends from the bottom up” in its first year in office. The review would be based on four principles, one of which would be ensuring "preventive spending", which he defined as investing in areas that would "save billions in the future". This includes support for scientific research, would be given a “high priority”.

Balls said the government’s one-year spending review is a sign of weakness, not of strength and is evidence that Chancellor George Osborne’s policies have failed “catastrophically” to improve living standards, economic growth and deficit reduction.