UK ready to abandon £80bn Horizon Europe science programme, minister warns

Government will have ’no choice’ but to launch breakaway scheme unless Brexit clash resolved

The UK will abandon attempts to remain part of the £80bn Horizon Europe science programme if last-gasp talks this week fail, a minister is warning.

George Freeman said “time is running out” to rescue participation and argued the government will have “no choice” but to launch its own scheme without a quickfire breakthrough.

The move would alarm scientific leaders – who fear the loss of pooling talent and ideas to achieve breakthroughs – although many are now resigned to it as better than the current stalemate.

Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal was meant to keep the UK in Horizon, with £15bn of funding over six years, but his plans to tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol have blocked talks.

Now Mr Freeman is heading to Brussels on Wednesday, warning the plug will be pulled unless “a last round of talks” succeed.

“The continued blocking of the UK from the flagship European research programmes that we negotiated to remain in is deeply problematic. We can’t let UK researchers be sidelined,” he said.

The UK would “remain active research partners”, but Mr Freeman added: “We will have no choice but to launch a bold, global alternative to Horizon.”

Last week, Universities UK, which represents 140 institutions, warned the crisis over participation is “close to the precipice”.

It pleaded with the UK and EU not to allow science to fall victim to “unrelated political disputes”, warning researchers are already being “forced” to leave projects.

“Failure to secure UK association to Horizon Europe would be a lose-lose for health, wealth and wellbeing and would do a disservice to future generations in Europe and beyond,” a letter to the EU said.

UK scientists have been stripped of leadership roles for Horizon projects, in what the EU ambassador called “collateral damage” for a planned breach of an international agreement on Northern Ireland.

Over the last six-year period of the Horizon scheme, finishing in 2020, the UK received £1.5bn – more than any other country and a fifth of the total handed out by Brussels.

Among the programme’s successes are everything from leukaemia treatments to hydrogen cells that fuel zero-emission buses.

The Brexit deal committed the UK to pay £15bn to stay in Horizon – even as it pulled out of other EU agencies and EU-wide programmes – but no progress has been made in 18 months.

In March the UK government extended a funding guarantee for successful Horizon Europe applicants, until the end of the 2022.

Ahead of the talks, Mr Freeman tweeted: “If the EU block us we are now ready to launch a new £15bn GLOBAL Research Prog.”