Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has privately backed the UK’s return to a €96 billion ($84.6 billion) EU science programme, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Mr Sunak has written to Nobel Prize winners assuring them he favours a post-Brexit deal on the Horizon Europe scheme.
It comes despite ministers drawing up a £14 billion ($17.4 billion) UK rival to Horizon, to be brought in if talks with Brussels fail.
Horizon is a seven-year push for breakthroughs in areas such as artificial intelligence, cancer research and climate change.
British scientists fear a go-it-alone scheme would cause a brain drain and foil Mr Sunak’s aim to make the UK a “science superpower”.
Downing Street said the UK "hopes negotiations on Horizon Europe will be successful, and that is our preference".
But "it must be on the basis of a good deal for UK researchers, businesses and taxpayers that also reflects two years of EU delays to the UK’s association," it said in a statement to The National.
Hopes of a deal rose after the UK and EU turned a page on Brexit by striking an agreement on Northern Ireland.
However, ministers are wary of Horizon’s subscription costs and there have been claims Mr Sunak is cool on the idea.
Nobel Prize laureates led by Sir Adrian Smith, the president of the Royal Society, wrote to Mr Sunak in February about Horizon’s importance.
Sir Adrian said on Wednesday that a reply had come from Downing Street two days ago.
“In that letter, the Prime Minister did personally state his preference for association,” he told the UK Parliament’s science and technology committee.
Mr Sunak had previously accused the EU of “playing politics” with Horizon during the talks on Northern Ireland.
A UK role in Horizon was agreed in principle in 2020 but the EU later said it did “not seem opportune” to finalise it amid post-Brexit tension.
One possible sticking point is whether the UK will have to pay for the share of the 2021-27 budget from which it has not benefited for two years.
Scientists in Britain have been able to apply for Horizon projects, with funding underwritten by the UK government for now.
But £1.6 billion ($1.98 billion) had to be handed back to the Treasury because of delays in implementing the scheme.
The uncertainty is also driving away talent and undermining Britain’s influence in scientific circles, the committee was told on Wednesday.
Britain's Science and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan has held talks on Horizon with the EU's innovation commissioner Mariya Gabriel.
“If we don’t associate, I see us drifting off into the cold North-east Atlantic rather by ourselves,” said Prof Paul Nurse, one of the Nobel laureates and the director of Francis Crick Institute, which focuses on biomedical research.
He said the almost “universal message” from scientists was that “association with Horizon is crucial for the success of UK science and therefore the future of our country”.
Prof Irene Tracey, vice chancellor of the University of Oxford, said it would be preferable to have a deal done by the start of the new academic year in the autumn.
The £14 billion Pioneer scheme unveiled this month would be brought in if Britain cannot join Horizon on “fair and appropriate terms”, the UK government has said.
Some scientists said there were elements of Pioneer that should be taken forward regardless of Britain’s role in Horizon.
But Sir Adrian and other scientists said a UK-only replacement would be problematic.
“There’s a grown-up recognition and acknowledgement that it is right and proper and prudent to think through alternatives,” he said.
“I don’t think it would be right to say that there is enthusiasm that some of those alternatives would be sensible substitutions.”
Besides Horizon, Britain could also join the EU's Copernicus Earth observation programme and its Euratom nuclear fusion research.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
UNpaid bills:
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN budget in 2019
USA – $1.055 billion
Brazil – $143 million
Argentina – $52 million
Mexico – $36 million
Iran – $27 million
Israel – $18 million
Venezuela – $17 million
Korea – $10 million
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN peacekeeping operations in 2019
USA – $2.38 billion
Brazil – $287 million
Spain – $110 million
France – $103 million
Ukraine – $100 million
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
EMILY%20IN%20PARIS%3A%20SEASON%203
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
