Cross-party consensus on funding science at last

It’s election time again – Britain decides. And for first time ever the manifestos of the two main parties have made bold commitments to back science. This matters as the country’s first past the post system (whose inequities I have been known to expound on about at length down the pub!) means the UK is locked into a two-party system. If both parties recognise the importance of matching our technological competitors on the global stage then science can’t fail to win, whichever party leads the country. If they are kept, the pledges being made now will translate into billions more for science each year, doubling R&D spending (see p10).