Sunak sidesteps question over whether Horizon deal will lead to further collaboration with EU – UK politics live

Sunak sidesteps question about whether Horizon deal will lead to UK collaborating more closely with EU in other areas

Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists about the government’s decision to rejoin the EU’s Horizon science research programme on a visit to the University of Warwick. Here are the main points he made.

We are associated to Horizon, which is the world’s largest international research partnership including countries not just from the EU but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand, with hopefully Canada and South Korea to join soon too.

We’ve taken the time to negotiate the right deal for the UK, a bespoke deal which works in our interests.

He also said that, in rejoining Horizon, the government was responding to what scientists wanted. He told journalists:

You would have seen today just overwhelming support for what the Government has agreed.

I listened to the science and research community here. They said that association to Horizon was a priority. That’s what I’ve delivered.

When it comes to the research world, collaboration is really important. The best research is often done across borders, but it’s not just about with EU countries. It’s actually much more global than that. And that’s why this programme is important. It includes EU countries but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand with hopefully Canada and South Korea as well. But that’s not the extent of our international collaboration.

He also said that at the G20 summit taking place later this week he would be talking about strengthening ties with other countries.

Rishi Sunak speaking to the media during a visit to the international manufacturing centre at University of Warwick, Coventry, this morning. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Key events

Sunak admits byelections in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth will be ‘difficult’ for Tories

Rishi Sunak has admitted it will be “difficult” for the Conservatives to win the two byelections coming up where they are defending safe seats.

Asked about his party’s prospects in Mid Bedfordshire and in Tamworth (see 9.38am), Sunak replied:

Mid-term by-elections are always difficult for incumbent governments and these will be no different, but we’re going to keep working hard to deliver for the British people.

I set out five priorities at the beginning of the year – to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats. Those are the right priorities, those are the British people’s priorities, and we are determined to deliver on them and show the country that we can transform their lives and their families’ lives for the better.

Yesterday the government faced criticism for scrapping Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme in 2010 after it emerged that some of the schools that now have problems with unreliable concrete (Raac – reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) might have been refurbished a decade ago if the initiative had gone ahead.

The decision to scrap Building Schools for the Future was one of many measures taken by the coalition government as part of its austerity drive. George Osborne, chancellor at the time, has not commented on the row, but Rupert Harrison, who was his chief of staff at the time and who is now a Tory election candidate, has intervened on X/Twitter. He says BSF was “totally unfunded” beyond April 2011.

Re Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme:

– it was totally unfunded beyond April 2011

– the 2010 Coalition SR allocated £2bn more to the annual govt capital budget than was in Labour’s 2010 election plans

– so Labour’s plans were to cut investment by more

Experts welcome Horizon decision but claim delay in UK rejoining has damaged scientific research in Britain

Rishi Sunak said this morning that scientists are overwhelmingly in favour of the decision to rejoin Horizon. (See 11.23am.) He is right. The Science Media Centre has published responses to the news from almost 30 distinguished scientists, and they are all extremely positive.

However, some of them say research has suffered while Britain has been out. UK researchers have not been participating since 2021. One professor said “irreversible damage” had been done.

Prof Martin Rees, the astronomer royal, a former president of the Royal Society and emeritus professor of cosmology and astrophysics at the University of Cambridge, said scientists had been frustrated “by the unconscionable delay in reaching agreement”.

Prof Sir John Hardy, professor of neuroscience and group leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute, University College London (UCL), said:

It is unfortunate that government believes decisions are completely reversible. As they must realise from recent budget debacles, they are not. Going back in is good. But irreversible damage has been done.

Prof Tara Spires-Jones, president of the British Neuroscience Association, said that although there was huge relief at today’s news, “the delays have undoubtedly had impacts on the UK’s ability to lead international collaborations in neuroscience, which we will have to work hard to repair”.

And Prof Neil Hall, director of the Earlham Institute, a life science research institute, said:

Before Brexit our scientists led many successful Horizon collaborations but recent restrictions have forced them to take a back seat. Despite the government providing repeated guarantees to honour Horizon grants for research projects, advances in our science have still suffered from the long-running uncertainty.

In the Commons Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, is making a statement to MPs about the escape of Daniel Abed Khalife from Wandsorth prison. Mabel Banfield-Nwachi is covering this on our separate live blog about this story.

Sunak sidesteps question about whether Horizon deal will lead to UK collaborating more closely with EU in other areas

Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists about the government’s decision to rejoin the EU’s Horizon science research programme on a visit to the University of Warwick. Here are the main points he made.

We are associated to Horizon, which is the world’s largest international research partnership including countries not just from the EU but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand, with hopefully Canada and South Korea to join soon too.

We’ve taken the time to negotiate the right deal for the UK, a bespoke deal which works in our interests.

He also said that, in rejoining Horizon, the government was responding to what scientists wanted. He told journalists:

You would have seen today just overwhelming support for what the Government has agreed.

I listened to the science and research community here. They said that association to Horizon was a priority. That’s what I’ve delivered.

When it comes to the research world, collaboration is really important. The best research is often done across borders, but it’s not just about with EU countries. It’s actually much more global than that. And that’s why this programme is important. It includes EU countries but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand with hopefully Canada and South Korea as well. But that’s not the extent of our international collaboration.

He also said that at the G20 summit taking place later this week he would be talking about strengthening ties with other countries.

Rishi Sunak speaking to the media during a visit to the international manufacturing centre at University of Warwick, Coventry, this morning. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The Conservatives received £9.9m in donations in the second quarter of 2023, and Labour £7.5m, according to figures released by the Electoral Commission this morning.

In total, parties received £24,438,482 in donations and public funds during Q2. That is almost double the amount received in the equivalent period last year (£12,761,435), when Boris Johnson’s premiership was ending in scandal but Labour was not yet regarded as the near-certain winner of the next election, as some donors and supporters believe it is now.

Donations to political parties in Q2 2023 Photograph: Electoral Commission

This is from Tom Clarke, the Sky News science correspondent, on the UK’s decision to rejoin Horizon.

This is a much better deal than many scientists (both in the UK and EU) might have expected. But the outpouring of celebration also speaks to just how damaging our absence from Horizon has been for many longstanding science partnerships.

Updated at 06.09 EDT

Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission vice president in charge of post-Brexit negotiations with the UK, has welcomed the news that Britain is rejoining Horizon. In a post on X/Twitter, he says:

Today’s agreement takes cooperation under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement a significant step forward.

It will ensure that EU and UK researchers & industry mutually benefit from one another’s experience & from fruitful collaboration in EU scientific & space programmes.

Alex Burghart, a Cabinet Office minister, told MPs during Cabinet Office questions this morning that the resignation honours list being drawn up by Liz Truss has not yet been submitted to government.

He was responding to a question from the SNP’s Patricia Gibson who asked why Truss was being allowed an honours list when she was the shortest-serving prime minister and “still managed to crash the economy”.

Burghart replied:

We have not yet seen the list for the previous prime minister. And I think it’s worthwhile remembering that people who are honoured in our system have often contributed greatly to our country.

People proposed for honours are subject to vetting, including by the House of Lords Appointments Commission if they are heading for the Lords, before the list is finalised and signed off by No 10.

Updated at 05.56 EDT

Rejoining Horizon has come ‘too late’, says Labour, because billions in funding already lost

Labour says it was wrong for the government to keep the UK out of Horizon for so long. Commenting on today’s announcement, Peter Kyle, the shadow science secretary, said:

Today’s announcement is a relief after years of Conservative prime ministers putting party above country. However, this announcement is too late for many researchers, businesses and academics who have already lost out in billions of funding and taken their jobs and expertise elsewhere.

Our world-leading research base deserves a government that matches their ambition. Labour’s industrial strategy will support our world-leading sectors like life sciences and will unlock the potential of our scientific community.

Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, is taking questions on next week’s business in the chamber at 10.30am. After that there will be three government statements. Here they are, with rough timings.

Around 11.30am: Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, on the Wandsworth prison escape.

Around 12.30pm: Suella Braverman, the home secretary, on the Prevent review (a progress update).

Around 1.30pm: Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, on rejoining Horizon.

Updated at 05.54 EDT

Chris Pincher resigns as MP, triggering new byelection challenge for Tories in Tamworth

Chris Pincher, the former Tory deputy chief whip, has announced he is resigning as an MP. After the standards committee said he should be suspended for eight weeks for groping two men at the Carlton club, and after he lost his appeal against that sentence this week, he was facing the risk of a probable recall byelection anyway. This morning he has short-circuited that process by quitting immediately.

This means there will be a byelection in his Tamworth constituency. Rishi Sunak is already facing a very tough byelection contest in Mid Bedfordshire, where Nadine Dorries had a majority of 24,664 in 2019 and where a Tory defeat would be the biggest byelection defeat in terms of number of voters (rather than vote share) in history. That contest will take place on 19 October.

Pincher had a majority of 19,634 at the last election. Labour were in second place, and the Lib Dems a distant third. The Tories may want to schedule the byelection for 19 October too so as to concentrate the likely electoral pain into one night.

In his statement, Pincher says:

I have said already that I will not stand at the next general election.

However, following the independent expert panel’s decision I wanted to talk to my office team and family.

I do not want my constituents to be put to further uncertainty, and so in consequence I have made arrangements to resign and leave the Commons.

Tamworth is a wonderful place and it has been an honour to represent its people.

I shall make no further comment at this time.

Updated at 05.16 EDT

Sunak urged to take UK back into other EU schemes such as Erasmus after rejoining Horizon

Good morning. Seven years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, and more than three years after we formally left, the government has announced a return to an EU institution. The UK is rejoining Horizon, the EU’s £85bn science research programme. It does not mean much for long-term realignment towards Europe, but it is a tiny shift of the pendulum in one direction after years when it has been vigorously yanked the other way.

When Boris Johnson negotiated the withdrawal agreement, it included a provision for the UK to remain part of Horizon. But the EU shut Britain out when it thought the Johnson/Truss governments were not implementing the Northern Ireland protocol, and Rishi Sunak actively explored the case for the UK turning its back on Horizon and funding its own research programme again. But the science community, almost universally, said Sunak would be mad not to join Horizon, the Windsor framework resolved the NI protocol problem (at least, from the EU’s point of view), and from this morning Britain is back in.

Here is Lisa O’Carroll’s story.

And here is the Downing Street press release.

The Liberal Democrats say Sunak should follow this up be taking Britain back into other EU schemes such as Erasmus, the student exchange programme. Commenting on the Horizon announcement, Layla Moran, the Lib Dems’ foreign affairs spokesperson, said:

This is welcome news but it is long overdue.

It is a tragedy that so much unnecessary damage was done to our scientists and researchers thanks to the Conservatives’ botched deal with Europe.

The government’s dither and delay means scientists will have missed out on vital funding and projects. This announcement won’t fix that damage – but it finally offers a positive step forward. It’s about time.

With this step forward, the government must look to extend this cooperation to other schemes such as Erasmus and restore these obvious benefits to all those in the UK.

Sunak is on a Horizon-linked visit this morning, and may be asked about this. But questions are also likely to focus on the government’s response to the escape of remand prisoner facing terrorism charges from Wandsworth jail. We will be covering that story on a separate live blog.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Rishi Sunak is on a visit this morning related to the Horizon announcement, where he will be speaking to the media.

Morning: Keir Starmer is on a visit in Macclesfield.

10am: Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, and other health officials give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee about the new hospital programme.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Noon: Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions at Holyrood.

If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

Updated at 05.55 EDT