Jonathan Green is Pay and Public Research Officer for Prospect
An enduring image of General Election campaigns in the 1980s was the attitude of the main political parties to defence. It is ironic that we approach the current General Election campaign with the likelihood that whatever government is elected a significant realignment of Britain’s defence posture is underway by default that is every bit as significant as the choices faced by voters in the 1980s. Not only is there a serious discussion about the merits of retaining nuclear deterrence capability but also there is likely to be cuts in defence spending that will downgrade Britain’s future defence capability, particularly in research and development. The strategic defence review, that the current government has launched is considering Britain’s foreign policy objectives and potential future threats. But the real decisions on defence spending will be made after the election when the scale of cuts for each government department emerges.

Science and the General Election
It’s been a great week for pushing science and engineering up the political agenda. The Science Vote has come together demonstrating not just its presence, but also its political weight.
There were three highly relevant publications, CaSE’s one page election statement Building our Future with Science and Engineering, the Royal Society’s report The Scientific Century, and Sir James Dyson report, Ingenious Britain. These follow A Vision for UK Research, published by the Council for Science and Technology last week. There is a high level of consistency among them, particularly around the need for long-term funding plans, improved science and mathematics education, and for developing support for industry investment and close collaboration across sectors.
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