Leading scientists including Professor Brian Cox have called on John Healey to halt cuts to the UK’s science budget which are threatening the closure of the world-famous Jodrell Bank observatory and other key sites.
An open letter to the Chancellor, seen by The i Paper, which has also been signed by Andy Burnham’s close ally Steve Rotheram, warns that the threat to the UK’s largest telescope is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
It says that the cuts will “cause lasting and possibly irreparable damage to the UK’s scientific capabilities”, including a number of Britain’s other major scientific hubs.
They urge the Chancellor to use his Budget on Wednesday to find the money to save Jodrell Bank in Cheshire along with other centres facing cuts, as well as carry out a proper economic assessment of funding the UK scientific infrastructure in next year’s spending review.
The letter says there has been a lack of economic or regional impact assessments of the cuts, which it says threaten to undermine the Prime Minister’s pledge for “growth in every postcode”.
In July, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) announced Jodrell Bank, which has housed the world’s third-largest steerable radio telescope, the Lovell, for the last 70 years, would no longer be prioritised for further funding after current arrangements end in March 2028.
Last month the Prime Minister, who visited the observatory as a schoolchild, said he would “find a way” to save the iconic landmark, which was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 2019.
However, funding for Jodrell Bank has not been guaranteed and other sites, such as Diamond Light Source in Harwell, Oxfordshire, Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and Boulby Mine in Yorkshire, are also at risk, along with hundreds of jobs in the science sector under cuts of up to 30 per cent for the particle physics, astronomy and nuclear area of the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC).
The letter says these hubs are “key local employers and support cutting edge research and innovation in their local economies”.
The letter was co-ordinated by the Prospect union which represents scientists and members of the STFC.
Signatories include renowned physicist Cox, Liverpool Mayor Rotherham, Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, and Lord Krebs, emeritus professor at the Royal Society, as well as Sue Ferns, senior deputy general secretary of Prospect.
Ferns said: “The Chancellor and Prime Minister have set an admirable ambition to be an innovation nation but seem to have completely overlooked the catastrophic damage these proposed cuts will do to our capability in this area.
“These cuts were announced under the previous prime minister with no economic impact assessment and will be a clear barrier to growth, research capability, and our intellectual standing in the world which is already being questioned.
“As well as seeking growth, the Budget is a clear chance to show that this country is still serious about leading the world in science.”
The letter says the cuts, which have been driven by rising energy bills and other factors, “risk seriously undermining the world-leading science the UK does in these areas, as well as damaging the Government’s vision of a reindustrialised Britain with good growth in every postcode”.
It adds: “We welcome the Prime Minister’s call for the UK to become an ‘innovation nation’, but do not understand how scaling back cutting-edge science work is compatible with that aim.
“The situation at Jodrell Bank has captured the public imagination, but this is the tip of the iceberg for these cuts.”
The Government has been contacted for comment.