Spending Review to include £86bn for science and tech
An £86bn package for the science and technology sector will help fund research into drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries, the government has said ahead of Wednesday's Spending Review.The package also includes up to £500m for regions across the UK with local leaders having a say on how it is spent, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said.Chancellor Rachel Reeves, whose review will outline day-to-day departmental and investment budgets over the next few years, said investing in the sector would create jobs and boost security.But research backers have warned that the government needs to do more to secure the UK's reputation for science on the world stage.
Reeves will set out departmental spending plans on Wednesday, with the package for science and technology expected to be worth more than £22.5 billion-a-year by 2029.DSIT said "every corner of the country" would benefit, with communities able to direct funding to expertise specific to their areas.In Liverpool, which has a long history in biotech, funding will be used to speed up drug discovery. Northern Ireland will receive money to develop defence equipment, while south Wales will use the money to design microchips used to power mobile phones and electric cars.The chancellor said: "Britain is the home of science and technology. Through the plan for change, we are investing in Britain's renewal to create jobs, protect our security against foreign threats and make working families better off."
Tony McBride, director of policy and public affairs at the Institute of Physics, welcomed the funding but said the government would need to commit to a decade-long plan to train workers."This must include a plan for the skilled workforce we need to deliver this vision, starting with teachers and addressing every educational stage, to underpin the industrial strategy," he said.John-Arne Rottingen, chief executive of Britain's biggest non-governmental research funder Wellcome, warned that visa costs for scientists from overseas, financial challenges at universities and a budget that was not adjusted for inflation could hamper the government's ambitions. "The UK should be aiming to lead the G7 in research intensity, to bring about economic growth and the advances in health, science and technology that benefit us all."
Earlier this week, Reeves admitted that not every government department would "get everything they want" in Wednesday's review, saying she had turned down requests from ministers and argued a squeeze on funding was a "product of economic reality".Reeves said her fiscal rules on borrowing to pay for public services were "non-negotiable" and insisted they were necessary because of "Conservative maltreatment" of the economy.The Treasury said earlier this year that the chancellor's fiscal rules would ensure day-to-day spending was matched by tax revenues, meaning the government would only borrow to invest.Big chunks will go to favoured departments, with suggestions of an extra £30 billion for the NHS over three years.Whitehall insiders have told the BBC they expect the spending review will be "ugly", and that ministers have been fighting over winning small amounts of cash for their respective departments.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
27 minutes ago
- Sky News
Rachel Reeves turning around UK's finances 'like Steve Jobs did for Apple', claims minister
Rachel Reeves will turn around the economy the way Steve Jobs turned around Apple, a cabinet minister has suggested ahead of the upcoming spending review. Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle compared the chancellor to the late Apple co-founder when asked on Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips where the £86bn for his department is coming from. The package, confirmed ahead of the full spending review next week, will see each region in England granted £500m to spend on science projects of their choice, including research into faster drug treatments. Asked by Trevor Phillips how the government is finding the money, Mr Kyle said: "Rachel raised money in taxes in the autumn, we are now allocating it per department. "But the key thing is we are going to be investing record amounts of money into the innovations of the future. "Just bear in mind that how Apple turned itself around when Steve Jobs came back to Apple, they were 90 days from insolvency. That's the kind of situation that we had when we came into office. "Steve Jobs turned it around by inventing the iMac, moving to a series of products like the iPod. "Now we are starting to invest in the vaccine processes of the future, some of the high-tech solutions that are going to be high growth. We're investing in our space sector... they will create jobs in the future." The spending review is a process used by governments to set departmental budgets for the years ahead. Asked if it will include more detail on who will receive winter fuel payments, Mr Kyle said that issue will be "dealt with in the run-up to the autumn". "This is a spending review that's going to set the overall spending constraints for government for the next period, the next three years, so you're sort of talking about two separate issues at the moment," he said. 0:42 Scrapping universal winter fuel payments was one of the first things Labour did in government - despite it not being in their manifesto - with minsters saying it was necessary because of the financial "blackhole" left behind by the Tories. But following a long-drawn out backlash, Sir Keir Starmer said last month that the government would extend eligibility, which is now limited to those on pension credit. It is not clear what the new criteria will be, though Ms Reeves has said the changes will come into place before this winter. Mr Kyle also claimed the spending review will see the government invest "the most we've ever spent per pupil in our school system". However, he said the chancellor will stick to her self-imposed fiscal rules - which rule out borrowing for day-to-day spending - meaning that while some departments will get extra money, others are likely to face cuts.
The Independent
40 minutes ago
- The Independent
Spending review: Schools to get more funding but police warned to ‘do their bit'
Schools are set to receive a funding boost in the spending review, a Cabinet minister has indicated, as he insisted other public services must 'do their bit' amid concerns about cuts to other budgets. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the Government will commit to investing 'the most we've ever spent per pupil' next week, but declined to rule out the prospect of a real-terms squeeze on areas such as policing. Facing questions from broadcasters on Sunday about which public services will be prioritised, Mr Kyle said 'every part of our society is struggling' and numerous sectors had asked Chancellor Rachel Reeves for more money. 'On the fact that the police have been writing to the Chancellor, they have,' the Cabinet minister told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme. 'We also have letters from the universities, we have letters from doctors about the health service, we have letters from campaigners for child poverty writing to us, and other aspects of challenges in Britain at the moment. 'Every part of our society is struggling because of the inheritance that we had as a country and as a Government.' He pointed to the £1.1 billion extra funding already earmarked for police this year, warning that public services would be expected to 'do their bit' alongside Government as he defended Ms Reeves' stewardship of the country's finances. 'We expect the police to start embracing the change they need to do, to do their bit for change as well. We are doing our bit,' Mr Kyle said. 'You see a Chancellor that is striving to get investment to the key parts of our country that needs it the most… You will see the priorities of this Government reflected in the spending review, which sets the departmental spending into the long term. 'But this is a partnership. Yes, the Treasury needs to find more money for those key priorities, but the people delivering them need to do their bit as well.' The Department of Health is set to be the biggest winner in Ms Reeves' spending review on Wednesday, with the NHS receiving a boost of up to £30 billion at the expense of other public services. Economists have said the expected 2.8% annual increase in its day-to-day budget, which amounts to a rise of about £30 billion by 2028, or £17 billion in real terms, will see other departments squeezed. Speaking on Sunday, Mr Kyle said the schools system, along with an £86 billion funding package for research and development, would be top priorities as the Government seeks to 'invest in the future.' 'You will see in this spending review that we are investing the most we've ever spent per pupil in our school system,' he told Sky News. Mr Kyle said Labour was 'absolutely laser-focused' on delivering manifesto pledges amid questions about how competing commitments will be balanced with little room for manoeuvre amid narrow fiscal headroom. Asked about the Government's plan to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the Parliament, the minister declined to guarantee Housing Secretary Angela Rayner's department would not face cuts. But he added: 'We made a manifesto commitment. We are absolutely laser-focused on delivering that.' He said the Government was also 'on the way' to delivering 13,000 new police officers, another manifesto pledge. Ms Reeves has acknowledged that she had been forced to turn down requests for funding in a sign of the behind-the-scenes wrangling over her spending review. She blamed the former Conservative government's stewardship of the economy rather than her self-imposed fiscal rules, which include a promise to match day-to-day spending with revenues. It comes after the Government announced science and technology sectors would receive new funding as part of an £86 billion package set to be confirmed next week. Mr Kyle's Department for Science, Technology and Innovation (DSIT) said the money would help research into new drug treatments and microchips used to power mobile phones and electric cars. The Tories accused Labour of copying their own plans in office over the commitment. Shadow technology secretary Alan Mak said: 'Labour's central budget announcement seems to be a reheat of Conservative plans just showing this Chancellor will copy and paste anyone's ideas to get out of the mess that she's put herself in. 'As Labour and Reform squabble over how to spend more taxpayers money, only the Conservatives are creating a serious plan for government to deliver growth and give you your country back.'
Telegraph
42 minutes ago
- Telegraph
How £7 pints are destroying Britain's pubs
Brian Whiting can still remember the first time he had to charge more than £5 for a pint of Guinness in one of his pubs. 'There was a regular who would come in most days and read the paper,' he says. 'The day I put it up to £5, he turned around, walked out and never came back.' The reaction of his former customer just goes to show the depth of feeling about the price of a pint in Britain. However, for publicans, incidents like this are becoming increasingly common. What was once an easy-to-afford commodity has, for many households, become too expensive. Pub owners have been forced to repeatedly raise their prices in recent years after sharp increases in the cost of everything from beer itself to food, fuel and labour. Many fear this has thrust them into a doom loop, where they must keep raising prices to stay afloat despite the risk of driving away cash-strapped customers. 'It's becoming very toxic,' says Whiting, who runs a string of pubs across the South East. 'You're so frightened, you've got to put prices up ... but you've got no choice but to do it. 'I worry that people think that landlords and publicans are just creaming it and making money. We work on tiny margins and we're trying to survive ... No one wants to charge those prices. 'I'm not sitting on a yacht anywhere.' According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the average price of a pint across the UK rose above £5 for the first time this year. But for pub owners like Whiting, that figure seems strikingly low compared with what they actually have to charge. The days when he could sell a pint for £5 and turn a profit are now a distant memory. 'You'll get a 'cooking lager' for mid-£6, but anything premium now is going over £7 for us,' he says. James Ratcliffe, co-owner of The Black Bull in Sedbergh, Cumbria, agrees: 'Premium lager? We're at about £6.70 a pint now. 'When we first opened [in 2018], we had a pint on sale that was £4.95 ... We were worried about going over the £5 mark. 'The dilemma is that, yes, I can put [the price] up, and yes, people understand why it's going up, but there's a certain point where people say, 'I'm not going to pay it.'' Some large brewers have also been criticised for asking pubs to pay more. Diageo, the parent company of Guinness, was accused of unfairly imposing price rises on the hospitality industry earlier this year. Whiting warns the pint price doom loop is pushing customers out of pubs and into the supermarkets, where alcohol is significantly cheaper. 'It's not made life easy with supermarkets being able to sell booze so cheap,' he says. Even though pint prices are typically much higher in London, the situation is worse outside the capital and other cities, Whiting believes. 'A lot of people go into a pub in a city and don't even know what they're paying,' he says. 'They tap with their card, and off they go. In a village, everybody wants to know how much the cost of a pint is.' It comes amid a deepening crisis in Britain's pub industry. Nearly 300 pubs shut down across England and Wales in 2024 – the equivalent of six per week – according to the BBPA. Nic Sharpe, director of the St John's Tavern in Archway, north London, highlights the barrage of costs facing landlords. 'My energy costs went up by £40,000 last year,' he says. 'Across the board, my wages are £25,000 more. The business rates have just gone up. 'It's like, f------ hell, I'm up on revenue from last year, but it's wiped out by the amount of costs.' Sharpe's prices are approaching the £7 mark too. He currently sells a pint of Estrella Galicia lager for £6.50, which is cheaper than rival venues where he says he has been charged as much as £7.80 for the same brand. Higher taxes have compounded problems. Wage bills have become a particular worry in recent months after Rachel Reeves increased employer National Insurance rates. The changes, announced in her October Budget, took effect in April and have hit the hospitality sector hard. According to a survey by the major hospitality trade bodies, one third of firms in the sector are now operating at a loss. The Telegraph also recently revealed that some pubs have even had to start calling last orders as early as 9pm to save money on staff costs. 'We're living with [higher NI costs] now and we're passing it on, and we're having these conversations and I hate it,' says Whiting. 'The last thing I want to do is increase my beer price, I want my pub to be full of people.' Ultimately, Sharpe believes swathes of smaller businesses will simply go bust. However, as many search for a stay of execution, one thing is certain – further price rises for punters. 'We're knocking on the door of the £10 pint,' says Whiting. 'It's inevitable.'
