The Science and Technology Committee has published its report on Brexit, science and innovation. The report sets out the Committee’s views on the priorities for the science and innovation sector in future negotiations with the EU, ahead of the European Council Summit this week.
The evidence included within the report was gathered during the Committee’s Brexit: Science and Innovation summit on 22 February 2018, which AIRTO gave both oral and written evidence to. The report sets out the key issues for UK science and innovation associated with Brexit, and in particular highlights the impact of the ‘people’ aspect of leaving the EU.
The Committee has concluded that with ‘just one year remaining until Brexit, and a commonly-accepted aim of reaching a comprehensive Brexit deal by this autumn, the time for setting out broad aspirations has passed. The Government must now work quickly to secure a detailed agreement covering all of the issues important to science and innovation’ and that ‘reaching an agreement on this should now be as important to the Government as addressing the question of security’. The Committee is calling for a deal for science and research to be reached with the EU by October 2018 at the latest.
