It’s time for the big three to get serious on science

Imran Khan

Amid the posturing and all-night drinking of the party conference season there is occasionally time for some genuine policy debate. Will science feature, I wonder, and, halfway through this Parliament, have any of the three main parties shown a genuine interest in research? Inevitably, there is no simple answer.

First up, meeting in Brighton next week, are the Liberal Democrats. And it’s a Lib Dem who has been most vocal on science policy recently, with former scientist Julian Huppert calling on his party to back a 15-year annual increase in the science budget of 3 per cent above inflation. He is also urging the Lib Dems to take a more pro-science line on everything from education to immigration.