Last month, the government rolled out its Plan B, which at least suggests the roughly £15 billion ($17.7 billion) set aside for Horizon over the next decade won’t be funneled to other pressing needs. No problem, said Johnson we’ll just replace the funding. Some 115 grants from Horizon were terminated in July because of the current row.
Before the Brexit referendum, the UK was receiving 16% of Horizon grants in monetary terms by 2018, it was just 11%.
The UK’s annual share of EU research support fell by almost a third between 20. It has meant the departure of scientists and researchers who felt unwelcome or who needed to transfer to the EU to ensure access to funding. Association status would allow UK participants to apply for grants on the same basis as EU applicants, and lead international teams.īrexit has already had a substantial negative impact on UK science. Before Brexit, more than a third of UK research papers were co-authored with European scientists. The Horizon program (the current incarnation, Horizon Europe, runs from 2021 to 2027) has funded collaborations that have led to advances in medicine, better understanding of Covid-19, improvements in leukemia treatment and innovations in hydrogen cells to fuel zero-emission buses, among other achievements. While both sides suffer from this dispute being dragged out, it’s the UK, as with most Brexit matters, that has more to lose. But, as Zach Meyers, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform notes, a lot of the damage has already been done. There are a number of potential off-ramps before it comes to that. If the EU is found to be in breach of the trade agreement and doesn’t comply, the UK can seek compensation if the EU refuses to pay compensation, then the UK can pursue specific trade remedies. The dispute process triggers 30 days of consultation after which it would go to arbitration. The bloc isn’t kidding, either - it has previously shut out Switzerland from the funding program over other bilateral disagreements. But the EU held up the Horizon association agreement after Johnson’s government declared its intention to unilaterally rewrite the terms of the divorce that relate to trade on Northern Ireland. The goal at the time of the UK-EU trade deal was that the UK would become an associated member of Horizon. Unofficially, of course, it’s all linked. Officially, science has nothing to do with product checks in Northern Ireland. In this case, the price for Britain’s scientists and researchers will be high: They’re at risk of losing access to the largest science funding program of its kind anywhere, a near $100 billion pot called Horizon, along with a range of other research programs such as Euratom, which engages in nuclear innovation Copernicus, the Earth observation effort, and space programs. A quarrel with Brussels is a tried and tested way of appealing to Tory voters.Īs with the entire Brexit debacle, the dispute perfectly captures how the UK’s hardline approach quickly hits the wall of economic and political reality. The frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, is also in charge of Brexit matters. The UK triggered the measure last week, complaining that the European Union has blocked its access to billions of science funding in retaliation for Britain’s plan to rip up parts of the trade arrangement for Northern Ireland. One of the most contentious parts of the torturous post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and Europe was the dispute-resolution process.
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