Researchers welcome government’s £15bn commitment to ‘turn the UK into scientific superpower’

An image showing Rishi Sunak with the Spending revie

Source: © Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

Spending review promise puts country on track to invest 2.4% of GDP in research and development by 2027

The UK government has announced in their latest spending review that it will invest £14.6 billion in research and development in 2021–22. ‘We’re investing billions in research and development to turn the United Kingdom into a scientific superpower,’ chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak tweeted.

The review sets out plans for public spending over a fixed time period. While the last few spending reviews covered five years, this one only looked at the next year – a consequence of the pandemic.