U.K. Research Minister Signals Coming Austerity on Science

He pointed out that several countries, in similar financial straits, have decided to increase spending on research, such as the United States, China, Germany, and Sweden. But there was no indication that the United Kingdom would be going down this route. "My preference is to ration research funding by excellence and back research teams of international quality—and screen out mediocrity—regardless of where they are and what they do," Cable said. "I support, of course, top class 'blue skies' research, but there is no justification for taxpayers' money being used to support research which is neither commercially useful nor theoretically outstanding."

Other researchers were not impressed. “The U.K. leads the world in science and engineering and yet today Dr. Cable had nothing exciting or inspiring to say about government policy in this area," says Imran Khan, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, says: "Any contraction in the U.K.’s science and higher education budgets will signal a narrowing of this country’s vision for its role in the world, a withdrawal from its current international leadership role in science."