What are the three main political parties promising on science at the UK election?
The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have all recently outlined plans for research in their manifestos
With the polls predicting a Labour win, if not an outright landslide, Chemistry World has looked at the three major UK parties’ plans for research, innovation and education. The Conservatives offer business as usual, while Labour favours long-term budgets for key research organisations but doesn’t address the uncertainties facing higher education funding. The Liberal Democrats is the only party to stress the importance of rebuilding links with Europe.
The Conservatives have promised to increase public spending on R&D by 10% a year to £22 billion in the next parliament. They committed in the March 2020 budget to increase it to £22 billion per year by 2024–25, but this was later changed to 2026–27. Apart from that, it stresses stability by continuing with its science and technology framework published in 2023 and its work with UKRI.
The Labour manifesto doesn’t provide any definite spending targets for R&D. It will introduce 10-year budgets for key R&D institutions but declined to say which. However, Chi Onwurah, shadow science, research and innovation minister, has said the UKRI will be one. While acknowledging that it’s not possible to bind any future parliaments, she said a 10-year budget is feasible as demonstrated by the UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute, which has managed to attract significant private sector investment.