IT TOOK two years to put together, and two days to fall apart. The Chequers deal on the UK’s vision for Brexit was presented as a “collective agreement”, however it proved to be the touchpaper for another blistering Tory civil war. It may yet live to see another day, but for now the UK faces its biggest challenge since the second world war without a plan.
This week’s crisis is a darkest-hour moment. The UK will leave the European Union on 29 March 2019, but a deal with the EU seems as far away as ever. The next round of talks is supposed to produce one. As things stand, the UK may simply crash out.
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It goes without saying that the details of the deal (or no deal) will have profound impacts on every facet of life. That includes science, which may seem a secondary concern, but it has turned out to be one area where the UK and EU have found common cause.
Compared with the overall negotiations, progress on science has been positive. The UK and EU both recognise that collaboration is a win-win scenario. In May, the UK government published a plan for a far-reaching with the EU. That includes becoming an associate member of Horizon Europe, the next phase of the EU’s flagship research programme, which will run from 2021 to 2027 and dole out €100 billion of funding.
The UK government is also doing the right thing about one of the most contentious issues at the confluence of STEM and Brexit: the movement of people.
More than a third of academic staff at top UK universities are not originally from the UK and the private sector is also dependent on foreign talent. Without immigration from outside the EU, the UK would be of STEM-trained workers including engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity experts, programmers and teachers in maths, chemistry and physics.
“Science has turned out to be one area where the UK and European Union have found common cause”
At present, only 1725 such skilled workers are allowed to migrate to the UK from outside the EU each month. Once the monthly quota is filled, even people who have been offered a job cannot take it up.
According to figures obtained by the Campaign for Science and Engineering, between December 2017 and March this year, were denied entry to the UK because the monthly cap had been reached.
Immigration remains an incendiary issue but, again, the UK government has recognised that science and tech deserve special treatment. The arbitrary quota system is being loosened and MPs are developing proposals for a that “works for science”.
Making the right noises is one thing. Making the right decisions is another. What would no deal mean for science? Like many things Brexit-related, nobody knows. The mantra is that “nothing is decided until everything is decided” – and that includes deals over science.
Asked about the fears of business leaders about Brexit, Leave-campaigner Boris Johnson derisively dismissed their concerns. It will be a tragedy if science gets the same cavalier dismissal in the name of politics.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Science’s deal or no deal”
