A bid by the UK Government to walk away from EU research funding would be “devastating” for Wales’ universities, according to the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
A paper leaked to the Daily Mail and Telegraph has shown ministers are planning to walk away from three major EU research programmes: Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Euratom.
Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, has allegedly been working with Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, to create a British alternative called ‘Discovery Fund’.
But Jane Dodds, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, warned that any such move could leave Wales’ higher education and research sector on a financial cliff edge.
Horizon Europe is the EU’s flagship funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of over €95 billion. Wales had previously secured €139 million of Horizon 2020 funding since the start of the programme.
The funding aims to keep Europe at the cutting edge of technological innovation, helping boost competitiveness and growth while also aiming to tackle climate change and achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Commenting on the developments, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said: “This brinkmanship being displayed by the Conservative Government is shameful and represents an unacceptable risk to the higher education and research sector in Wales, as well as the long-term stability of the Welsh economy as a whole.
“The higher education and research sector is vital to Wales with a 2020 study finding that universities contributed more than £5 billion to the Welsh economy and generated an average of 61,722 jobs per year.
“The sector has already experienced significant turbulence due to Brexit, with the number of EU students studying in the UK halving in the year 2021 and institutions facing troubles in recruiting and retaining EU staff.
“It also fell to Welsh Liberal Democrat Education Minister Kirsty Williams to clean up the Conservative’s mess and introduce the International Learning Exchange programme after they took the UK out of Erasmus, despite promising they would not do so. The last thing our higher education and research sector needs now is yet more uncertainty.
“While the Tories have stated they would replace funding with a domestic programme if they exit Horizon, how on earth can we trust them after every other replacement programme introduced by the Conservatives has been underfunded, under-resourced and inadequate.
“We should be looking at repairing relations with the EU and increasing cooperation, not placing further threats.
“I am calling on the Conservative Party to cease this utterly irresponsible behaviour that places people’s jobs and livelihoods as well as the Welsh economy at risk, they must give the Welsh higher education and research sectors the security and stability they need.”
