Lord Frost gives update on UK’s participation in Horizon Europe
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is scrambling to resolve the Northern Ireland Protocol dispute with the EU, which once settled would allow Britain to rejoin its flagship innovation programme. The furious post-Brexit dispute which has been dragging on for months has left British researchers in the dark after the EU told the UK it cannot take part in Horizon Europe until the argument is smoothed over. This is despite Britain negotiating to stay in the programme as part of the 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreed.
Horizon lets researchers apply for prestigious EU grants and facilitates collaboration with European scientists to work on any kind of project, from climate change studies to quantum mechanics and AI. But researchers have been dragged into the political feud and have been left in limbo as the back-and-forth drags on.
Reports emerged this week suggesting new post-Brexit trading arrangements are “getting close”, although Downing Street has insisted that a deal is yet to be reached. Shadow Science Minister Chi Onwurah, who believes that participation in Horizon Europe is vital for the UK’s research community, said that talk of a deal coming close to fruition is a promising sign.
She told Express.co.uk: “If we can make a deal, that is great. But the months of uncertainty will have taken their toll. We want to rejoin the programme and any progress that the Government and Europe makes is definitely positive. We want to see it.”
According to James Wilsdon, a researcher from University College London, the feeling among the British science community is likely to be one of “delight”.
He told Express.co.uk: “The response to the news that talks are progressing will probably be one of delight as it signals that things will probably be resolved.
“That was the general position that most scientists, researchers and most research-intensive businesses had in the first place. People will be really pleased that there now is the prospect of the protocol being resolved and then off the back of that Horizon association once again becoming feasible.
“If it had extended much further, we were getting really beyond the point at which participation would be practical. We could have ended up joining rather late…there has definitely been a knock to the confidence of European collaborators in the reliability of the UK side as a partner because of all this.
“It will be overcome in time, but it will take a bit of repairing and effort to stitch it back together. And on the UK side, lots of people have not been putting themselves forward for European funding because of the uncertainties.”
However, for some researchers, it is too late already. Back in April 2022, the EU issued 150 UK-based scientists a damning ultimatum, demanding they move to a European institution within two months or else lose the grant they were promised through Horizon.
And several researchers have indeed relocated to Europe to keep hold of the promised EU funds, which are deemed highly prestigious in the science community. As of December 2022, a total of 27 European Research Council (ERC) grant winners left the UK to keep hold of their cash.
The Shadow Minister said: “That is a real loss to us, these are great researchers who are going abroad to further our careers. Science research is international, it is collaborative. The fact that there is such uncertainty, also means that scientists across Europe are less keen to come here.”
But Mr Wilsdon is hopeful that rejoining the scheme can help pick the science community back up.
He said: “Things have scaled down, and it will take some time, even with a Horizon Europe Association Agreement, it will take time, to ramp back up again, although the sooner the better.
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“We have been through such a prolonged period of uncertainty, the question now is how quickly things can normalise and what that will look like.”
The striking of a renewed post-Brexit trading deal is still not guaranteed, meaning scientists have to bare the brunt of the uncertainty for a little while longer. The challenge for the Prime Minister lies in putting forward a deal that will appeal to both pro-UK unionist politicians in `Northern Ireland, as well as Eurosceptic Conservative MPs, before putting it to the EU.
The Eurosceptics have said they would not accept any deal that left the European Court of Justice with a role in British territory. Currently, Northern Ireland remains part of the EU single market for goods under the Protocol.
Officials have indicated the UK could be willing to accept some continuing but weakened role for the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland.
A Government spokesperson said: “Our priority is protecting the Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement and preserving political stability in Northern Ireland and the UK internal market. “Any solution on the protocol must address the range of issues on the ground in Northern Ireland. We are currently engaging in intensive scoping talks with the EU to find solutions to these problems.”
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