The United Kingdom’s Labour Party, the likely winner of national elections set for 4 July, has unveiled ambitious science-related plans. It promises to develop decadelong science spending plans, cut net carbon emissions from electricity production to zero by the end of the decade, and reduce the use of animals in some kinds of research if, as many observers predict, it prevails.
The promises are among a number of science-related provisions included in manifestos, or policy statements, released this week by the three largest parties courting voters: Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats.
The election is widely seen as a referendum on 14 years of Conservative rule, and polls suggest Labour is favored to form a new government, which would be led by veteran politician Keir Starmer.
The parties’ views on economic issues, health care, and immigration have dominated the campaign. But the manifestos all express support for R&D, which is “fantastic,” says Daniel Rathbone, head of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, an advocacy group. “That cross-party support for research … is critical for the U.K.’s future and will allow us to tackle many of the challenges that we face as a society.”
On funding, Labour is pledging to have research agencies—including UK Research and Innovation, the nation’s main public science funder—set spending plans that cover 10 years. That is longer than the 3-year blueprints traditionally used in the government’s budgeting process. The longer cycle will “allow meaningful partnerships with industry to keep the UK at the forefront of global innovation,” according to Labour’s manifesto, released on 13 June.
Many researchers have been calling for such long-term planning. Kieron Flanagan, a research policy specialist at the University of Manchester, says, “It a very good idea to be thinking like this,” because it allows for continuity. But he notes that lawmakers serve just 5-year terms in Parliament. Because the government could change hands within the 10-year window, the plans could end up becoming a “vague promise or commitment of a direction of travel that might change.”
Labour also stopped short of putting figures to those spending plans, which leaves researchers guessing whether a Labour win would mean more or less money for science. But one of Labour’s shadow science ministers has suggested the party will maintain current levels of spending on science, which amounts to about 3% of the U.K.’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The Conservative manifesto released on 12 June says the party will uphold its existing promise to boost science investment to £22 billion per year by 2026–27. (The percent of GDP that sum would represent is unclear, because of recent changes to the way research investment is calculated.)
The Liberal Democrats offer the most ambitious science spending plan. The party, which has seen its popularity wane since it formed a coalition government with the Conservatives in 2010, says it will invest 3.5% of GDP in research and innovation by 2034, but offers no other details. The party also says it will reinstate a goal of spending 0.7% of GDP on foreign aid, a funding stream that has previously helped support research partnerships between the U.K. and other countries. It is the only manifesto to support the foreign aid promise, which has drawn backing from the Wellcome Trust, the U.K.-based research philanthropy.
On immigration, the manifestos may do little to tamp down researchers’ fears that the next government will make it more difficult for foreign scientists and students to come to the U.K. Wellcome and the U.K.’s Royal Society have called for reducing the up-front fees that scientists seeking to work in the U.K. pay for visas. But earlier this year the Conservative government hiked migrant health care costs, making it more expensive to bring dependents, and boosted the minimum earnings required for a visa.
Both Labour and the Conservatives have said they want to reduce immigration. And the Conservatives have discussed further visa price rises. “That would be very worrying in terms of our ability to attract people to the U.K. in comparison to other countries,” says Martin Smith, who is head of the policy lab at Wellcome.
On climate policy, the Conservative manifesto makes no major new promises. But the party remains committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. It vows to invest in renewable energy sources, including by tripling offshore wind capacity, and to scale up nuclear power. But the Conservatives also say they will build new gas-powered power stations to help keep the lights on when the weather hampers wind and solar.
On the environment, Labour says it will “follow the science” by delivering almost all U.K. electricity from zero-carbon energy services by 2030. To do this the party wants to double onshore wind production, triple solar power, quadruple offshore wind, and get Hinkley Point C, a new nuclear reactor besieged by delays, over the finish line.
Meeting this zero-carbon target will be “very difficult,” the think tank Public First concluded in an October 2023 report analyzing Labour’s plan. One big challenge, it noted, will be modernizing the U.K.’s power grid to handle new renewable power sources.
Still, Labour’s “detailed, more holistic” climate plan could benefit the research community, says Penny Clark, a social scientist at University College London. Ambitious, high-level targets often catalyze funding that filters down to researchers, she says.
Other notable pledges from Labour include working with researchers and industry to phase out “animal testing,” although it is not clear whether that means ending the use of animals in biomedical research. The party also wants to create three new National Forests in England and expand protection for “nature-rich” habitats—such as wetlands and peat bogs. And, in a public health move, it says it wants to “ensure the next generation can never legally buy cigarettes.”
More: https://www.science.org/content/article/u-k-election-nears-major-parties-reveal-their-science-policies
