Can we get Boris kicked out before any more damage happens?
Boris Johnson’s government is this month planning to step over what British scientists have called “a precipice” by walking away from the world’s biggest scientific research programme, the EU’s €95bn Horizon fund.
Brussels has blocked the UK from participating in the programme over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade dispute, which the prime minister refuses to back down on.
Instead, UK ministers are finalising legislation to unilaterally rip up parts of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, a key element of Johnson’s Brexit deal with the EU, with publication expected this month.
One government official said the Northern Ireland bill could be published as early as this week, a move that is likely to harden hostility in Brussels towards London.
The stand-off over Northern Ireland has dismayed British scientists, who fear being cut off from big collaborative projects with EU counterparts. They have urged both sides to find a compromise.
But allies of Kwasi Kwarteng, UK business secretary, said he was “keen to press ahead with plan B” — an alternative British programme of global research co-operation outside of the Horizon project.
They said Kwarteng was looking to trigger the fallback option this month, which would involve spending £6bn over three years on a new global science fund, should the EU refuse to let the UK take part in Horizon.
In a recent letter to British scientists, Kwarteng accused the EU of “politicising science and research co-operation” in the dispute over Northern Ireland.
João Vale de Almeida, the EU ambassador to the UK, last month warned that British scientists would become “collateral damage” in the dispute over the protocol, which governs trade between the region and mainland Britain.
He said the UK’s place as an associate member of Horizon — agreed as part of Britain’s 2020 Brexit deal — was increasingly at risk of falling “victim of the political impasse”, adding that it was “very regrettable.”
Liz Truss, UK foreign secretary, is finalising details of the legislation, which would override parts of the protocol; she argues that the treaty is not working and is exacerbating community tensions in the region.
Truss wants to cut the burden of border checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, stop the European Court of Justice from policing the protocol and regain full control over state subsidies and value added tax in the region.
Those involved in drafting the legislation said there had been “no pushback” from any cabinet ministers who might have been concerned that publishing the legislation would lead to EU reprisals on Horizon.
Prof Paul Boyle, who leads on research and innovation for Universities UK, wrote last week to European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič, urging him to stop the UK falling out of the Horizon project.
“We believe we are close to the precipice, based on the information we have recently received from the UK government,” he wrote.
He added that the UK was “at an advanced stage of planning large-scale, comprehensive domestic alternatives to Horizon Europe, making use of the billions of pounds of funding that have been set aside for association”.
The letter said the British decision to abandon Horizon could come as early as this month and warned that once it was made, UK scientists anticipated it would “not be possible to revert to association”.
We’ve brexited so hard, we bypassed the goal of the1950’s and set the final destination as the Dark ages.
Whoever replaces Johnson (assuming he looses either tonight or at the next GE) will **still** have to pick up the pieces of Brexit. This job is something of a poison chalice as I don’t believe Brexit is actually a conundrum that can be solved. We either re-join (with less rights probably) which is highly unlikely, or we have to go full Brexit and sever all ties re-unifying Ireland in the process. Like all fantasy’s it’s not possible to have our cake and eat it too.
Should we all start digging this hole the government is throwing us in?
Ok i know we’re an island but that don’t fucking mean the tories can well and truly turn us into a dead island with no outside trade or links.
With brexit getting the blame especially when we all know brexit ain’t to blame for everything its the arseholes who voted for it and the cunts who refused to make a deal on it.
How is the UK abandoning a project that the EU is currently blocking UK participation in (despite having agreed previously that the UK would participate)? Are the Swiss abandoning it too because they are blocked from it currently?
Science is the future. Doing this will fuck us. The Tory party are not our friends.
This would Ham string us so bad how fucking stupid are they? This makes me want to drag them out of no 10 with my own hands. They hate any progress in this country. Fuck tories
Further helping accelerate the brain drain we are seeing then. Any project that does not reap short-term financial gains is not in their interest and so they will do all they can to de-fund it, collapsing an entire industry if they can. Soon, all we will be good for is low-regulation financial services and freeports as they seem to be the only things the Tories are actively funding.
Do we have any choice ????
Should be awesome for the status of our formerly world-leading academic institutions.
13 comments
Can we get Boris kicked out before any more damage happens?
Boris Johnson’s government is this month planning to step over what British scientists have called “a precipice” by walking away from the world’s biggest scientific research programme, the EU’s €95bn Horizon fund.
Brussels has blocked the UK from participating in the programme over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade dispute, which the prime minister refuses to back down on.
Instead, UK ministers are finalising legislation to unilaterally rip up parts of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, a key element of Johnson’s Brexit deal with the EU, with publication expected this month.
One government official said the Northern Ireland bill could be published as early as this week, a move that is likely to harden hostility in Brussels towards London.
The stand-off over Northern Ireland has dismayed British scientists, who fear being cut off from big collaborative projects with EU counterparts. They have urged both sides to find a compromise.
But allies of Kwasi Kwarteng, UK business secretary, said he was “keen to press ahead with plan B” — an alternative British programme of global research co-operation outside of the Horizon project.
They said Kwarteng was looking to trigger the fallback option this month, which would involve spending £6bn over three years on a new global science fund, should the EU refuse to let the UK take part in Horizon.
In a recent letter to British scientists, Kwarteng accused the EU of “politicising science and research co-operation” in the dispute over Northern Ireland.
João Vale de Almeida, the EU ambassador to the UK, last month warned that British scientists would become “collateral damage” in the dispute over the protocol, which governs trade between the region and mainland Britain.
He said the UK’s place as an associate member of Horizon — agreed as part of Britain’s 2020 Brexit deal — was increasingly at risk of falling “victim of the political impasse”, adding that it was “very regrettable.”
Liz Truss, UK foreign secretary, is finalising details of the legislation, which would override parts of the protocol; she argues that the treaty is not working and is exacerbating community tensions in the region.
Truss wants to cut the burden of border checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, stop the European Court of Justice from policing the protocol and regain full control over state subsidies and value added tax in the region.
Those involved in drafting the legislation said there had been “no pushback” from any cabinet ministers who might have been concerned that publishing the legislation would lead to EU reprisals on Horizon.
Prof Paul Boyle, who leads on research and innovation for Universities UK, wrote last week to European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič, urging him to stop the UK falling out of the Horizon project.
“We believe we are close to the precipice, based on the information we have recently received from the UK government,” he wrote.
He added that the UK was “at an advanced stage of planning large-scale, comprehensive domestic alternatives to Horizon Europe, making use of the billions of pounds of funding that have been set aside for association”.
The letter said the British decision to abandon Horizon could come as early as this month and warned that once it was made, UK scientists anticipated it would “not be possible to revert to association”.
We’ve brexited so hard, we bypassed the goal of the1950’s and set the final destination as the Dark ages.
Whoever replaces Johnson (assuming he looses either tonight or at the next GE) will **still** have to pick up the pieces of Brexit. This job is something of a poison chalice as I don’t believe Brexit is actually a conundrum that can be solved. We either re-join (with less rights probably) which is highly unlikely, or we have to go full Brexit and sever all ties re-unifying Ireland in the process. Like all fantasy’s it’s not possible to have our cake and eat it too.
Should we all start digging this hole the government is throwing us in?
Ok i know we’re an island but that don’t fucking mean the tories can well and truly turn us into a dead island with no outside trade or links.
With brexit getting the blame especially when we all know brexit ain’t to blame for everything its the arseholes who voted for it and the cunts who refused to make a deal on it.
How is the UK abandoning a project that the EU is currently blocking UK participation in (despite having agreed previously that the UK would participate)? Are the Swiss abandoning it too because they are blocked from it currently?
Science is the future. Doing this will fuck us. The Tory party are not our friends.
This would Ham string us so bad how fucking stupid are they? This makes me want to drag them out of no 10 with my own hands. They hate any progress in this country. Fuck tories
Further helping accelerate the brain drain we are seeing then. Any project that does not reap short-term financial gains is not in their interest and so they will do all they can to de-fund it, collapsing an entire industry if they can. Soon, all we will be good for is low-regulation financial services and freeports as they seem to be the only things the Tories are actively funding.
Do we have any choice ????
Should be awesome for the status of our formerly world-leading academic institutions.
we just, keep, winning!
/s