Big science spending pledges unlikely to sway British voters

Ambitious pledges to increase research spending would be unlikely to sway many UK voters in next month’s general election, even though most people recognise the benefits of investing in innovation, new polling suggests.

In a survey of 4,100 people commissioned by the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), only 13 per cent of respondents say a promise by Sir Keir Starmer to invest heavily in research and development – with a view to growing the economy – would make them “much more supportive” of the Labour leader.

A further 33 per cent agreed it would make them “somewhat more supportive”, although 38 per cent say it would have no impact, with another 9 per cent against such a pledge.

If Rishi Sunak made the same announcement, just 7 per cent would feel much more supportive towards him and a further 23 per cent would be somewhat more supportive. Some 47 per cent say it would have no impact and 18 per cent would feel less supportive.

The polling, which was undertaken by Public First and published on 27 June, comes as the main political parties have largely avoided talk about future science spending.

Labour’s manifesto makes no reference to its spending ambitions, stating it will “scrap short funding cycles for key R&D institutions in favour of 10-year budgets”. The Conservative manifesto promises to increase public R&D spending to £22 billion a year, up from £20 billion” in the next parliament – albeit this is a target which, according to its 2019 manifesto, was due to be achieved by 2024-25.

Despite the fact that research policies are unlikely to sway many respondents’ voting intentions, there is strong support for greater spending, with 80 per cent agreeing that research and development had an important role to play in growing the economy and nearly half (49 per cent) saying they had personally benefited from advancements in research.

Ben Bleasdale, director of CaSE’s Discovery Decade project, said the research “demonstrates that the public want to see politicians using R&D as a tool to solve big problems, and there’s a huge opportunity for the next government to invest in long-term R&D solutions”.

Asked which of a list of potential scientific breakthroughs they would most like to see happen, respondents chose developments in medical technology, agriculture and climate change tools.

Seb Wride, head of opinion research at Public First, added that the research “shows there is a popular case to be made by political leaders for the UK’s research sector, through medical and climate technology, or through talking about the role of the sector in economic growth”.

“Many in the UK are looking for politicians to present more long-term solutions to problems, and R&D is a key part of this. The challenge is getting the public to believe that the UK could and will be the home of these solutions,” he added.

Assessing the two main UK political parties, voters rated Labour slightly more favourably than the Conservatives, with 38 per cent perceiving that R&D spending was a “top” or “high priority” for Sir Keir’s party ahead of Mr Sunak’s party, which scored 33 per cent on this question – perhaps surprisingly given the Conservatives’ “science superpower” rhetoric since 2019 and Mr Sunak’s championing of AI technology over the past year.

On support for UK universities, Labour was also seen more favourably, with 30 per cent perceiving this as a high priority for the party, compared with 26 per cent for Conservatives – albeit both parties scored relatively poorly on this front. 

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com