From J.H. Mulvey, Save British Science
In brief reply to Bruce Reed’s comments (Letters 10 December) on my letter of 12 November, even when a British contribution to the European Union budget in respect of research and development is included, the government’s spending on R&D is now less, in real terms, than in 1984/5 by about £1 billion per annum – and still falling (Forward Look 1994, HMSO).
Bruce Reed is right to draw attention to the British Treasury’s insistence, unique in the EU, that a proportion of the EU funds returned to Britain for support of R&D should be counted against – and so reduce – Departmental budgets. The intention of the EU to raise the overall level of R&D investment in the EU countries – not to replace national spending – is thus being thwarted in this country by another “British opt-out”.
