Amid increases in windfall taxes and a new 45 per cent levy on low-carbon electricity generators, the chancellor in his highly anticipated Autumn Statement also laid out the government’s plan to protect the country's research budget. 

Hunt’s Autumn Statement saw major tax changes for energy companies, fossil fuel providers and electric vehicles, as well as R&D projects, in order to facilitate the chancellor's goal of combining “our technology and science brilliance with our formidable financial services”.

The 2017 Tory manifesto included a commitment to investing 2.4 per cent of the UK's GDP in research and development (R&D) initiatives by 2027, increasing from the 2018 level of 1.7 per cent of GDP invested in R&D. 

However, the cost-of-living crisis and historic inflation levels had raised questions about whether the government would change this pledge in an effort to reduce spending, which the chancellor denied.  

“I have also...