Britain Can Recover from the Self-harm of Brexit. Today’s Return to the EU’s Horizon Project Shows How

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: Polls suggest a majority of Britons regret our exit. Rejoining the scientific programme could be the start of something bigger

Is this the dawn? Have we reached the glimmer of a new beginning? Rishi Sunak’s about-turn on joining the European Union’s Horizon programme is a first note of sanity in the two and a half tortured years since Britain formally left the EU. Let it not be the last.

The story itself is miserable. Horizon is an £81bn continent-wide programme to give Europe’s scientific research community a critical mass to compare with that of the US or China. It acknowledges the obvious truth that advanced scientific research needs collaboration rather than competition. Britain’s universities had been leaders of the pack, and they were among Horizon’s principal beneficiaries. If anything made sense of a united Europe, it was Horizon.

Brexit was an act of sabotage. In a measure of infantile daftness, its adherents declared that here, as in all things, Britain could go it alone. Sunak’s own enslavement to the creed required him to agree, and he duly engineered a £14bn Pioneer programme with grants that were intended to replace Horizon. Many senior scientists in Britain protested the inadequacy. Sunak appeared unaware that research is as much about collaboration and scholastic exchange as it is about money. » | Simon Jenkins | Thursday, September 7, 2023

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Sunak Hails ‘Right Deal for Country’ as UK Rejoins EU Horizon Project

THE GUARDIAN: Scientists welcome long-anticipated deal to return to £85bn science research programme

The UK is to return to the flagship Horizon Europe science research programme, Rishi Sunak has confirmed.

The prime minister said that from Thursday, British scientists can apply once again for grants from the £85bn programme, a move that will be welcomed with jubilation from the science community in the UK which was once one of the leading beneficiaries of the fund.

Sunak said: “We have worked with our EU partners to make sure that this is the right deal for the UK, unlocking unparalleled research opportunities, and also the right deal for British taxpayers.”

The deal was sealed after a call between Sunak and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday night.

According to a Downing Street statement, the UK will also rejoin the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation satellite programme, which has been crucial in monitoring this summer’s weather events, including wildfires across Europe. » | Lisa O'Carroll, Brussels correspondent | Thursday, September 7, 2023

This is a great step forward. It's certainly an important step in the right direction. But as important as this step is, this country needs more. Far more! The incalculable damage that the fossils in the Conservative Party have visited upon the citizens subjects of this country needs to be repaired as soon as is humanly possible. Then, and only then, can this country start to heal and prosper again. – © Mark Alexander