Election Response 2024: Green Party of England and Wales

Thank you for your letter of 30 May 2024, setting out the Campaign for Science and Engineering’s manifesto and asking for the Green Party’s view on addressing six key questions.

The UK has had far too little investment in long-term Research & Development for many decades. The Green Party believes strongly in making good decisions based on objective evidence and scientific information so the Campaign’s manifesto to support R&D is very welcome.

I am pleased to address these as follows:

Invest at a level, and in such a way, as to enhance the UK’s research and innovation environment?

Green MPs will seek to increase investment into R&D by over £30 billion in the five years of the next parliament. Additional spending will be primarily focused on tackling the climate and environmental crisis through funding research into sectors including energy storage; agroecological agriculture and soil health; re-use, repair, recycling and designing out waste; carbon neutral construction; carbon neutral production and carbon capture technology.

Ensure that Universities are sustainably funded across all their research and teaching activities?

Elected Greens will push the UK government to partner with universities, other research institutions and business to assess the most economically and environmentally significant areas for research and development.

In relation to undergraduate teaching, the Green Party would fully fund every higher education student, restoring maintenance grants and scrapping undergraduate tuition fees. This is a fundamental shift away from the marketisation of university funding we have seen in recent years.

Ensure the UK has an immigration system that supports research and innovation, and can attract the most talented researchers?

We want to attract the best researchers for our universities and the top talent for our start-ups Elected Greens will therefore push for migrants, including students, to be allowed to bring members of their family to the UK who would normally live with them in their country of origin, or would do so if it were permitted by law or custom.

Elected Greens will push to remove minimum income requirements from all applications including spousal visas, because all British citizens should have the right to reside with their loved ones no matter their income.

Maintain and build on the UK’s leadership and collaboration in research and innovation internationally?

International collaboration and particularly supporting the research efforts of the Global South will be important aspects of international solidarity.  Where R&D are global issues, global collaboration is clearly needed.  The Green Party is proudly pro-European and will welcome a speedy return to the free movement of people between the UK and the EU, including reciprocal rights to work for both UK and European citizens. We also support rejoining the Erasmus Programme, which enables students to study for a year in another European country.

Strengthen local innovation ecosystems and support regions to enact effective local policies for R&D?

As part of our just transition to a zero-carbon economy, we will promote a regional strategy, building on industrial strengths across the country to maximise the contribution to the transition from existing jobs and businesses.  Regionally-based, mutually-owned banks will drive investment particularly in decarbonisation and local economic sustainability. this will be done by supporting investment in SMEs.

Use all the levers it can to support a competitive and attractive environment for R&D-led businesses?

The investment and actions described above will significantly help promote an attractive culture of highly-skilled research and innovation that the UK and the planet need to address the climate emergency.

I trust these responses will encourage your members that the Green Party offers real hope and real change in the field of R&D as well as every other aspect of our lives.