DEFRA Cuts: Science to lose less than feared

Spending cuts to science of about 10% over four years are expected to be announced today.

It had been rumoured that the government would impose cuts of up to 25% to science, delivering a serious blow on funding into agricultural research and development.

However, the BBC was today reporting that the science budget would remain constant in cash terms over the next four years.

When inflation is taken into account, this represents a real-terms reduction of under 10%.

Imran Khan, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CASE), said it was encouraging that the government had “rowed back” from cuts of 20% or even 25% that had been rumoured.

The news will likely be greeted with relief in the agricultural sector, amid reports that DEFRA was facing bigger cuts of around 30% of its budget.

The NFU has been campaigning to reverse the decline in funding for agricultural research and development in the UK, seen in recent decades.

In October 2008, it launched its Why Science Matters for Farming campaign to ensure the development and translation of new technologies and skills for agricultural R&D.