The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly emphasised his desire to make post-Brexit Britain a “science superpower” with strength in areas such as AI, quantum computing and biotechnology. At the heart of this ambition was the pledge to raise annual R&D funding to £22bn; a pillar of Sunak’s first budget. This would make the UK’s R&D spending higher as a percentage of GDP than the US, China, Japan and France.
However, that pledge has been put on hold by two years, as other - likely more political - matters take priority in the budget. The research spending pledge has now been pushed back two years to 2026-27. The government says it remains committed to the overall target.
“We need to do what the people of this country have always done: invent, discover and create the ideas and technologies that will change the world,” said Sunak. “So, we will invest more in innovation. The UK is already a world leader, [but] we want to go further.
“I can confirm...