We should have rejoined EU Horizon scheme already, says Sir Patrick Vallance

The UK and the European Union are being damaged by Britain continuing to be outside the European research scheme Horizon, according to a former chief scientific adviser to the Government.

Sir Patrick Vallance said “we should have joined it yesterday” when asked about his position on the Horizon research programme.

He told the Future of Britain conference, organised by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, that the UK’s continued absence from Horizon was “damaging” both for the country and Brussels.

The UK was excluded from the £85 billion scheme in a tit-for-tat retaliation over post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland in 2020.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is currently considering a draft deal to restart Horizon membership, is understood to have concerns over the “value for money” of rejoining.

The Conservative Party leader is still considering a UK-based alternative to the collaboration scheme known as Pioneer, Downing Street has confirmed.

But Sir Patrick, who played a central part in the handling of the Covid pandemic by Boris Johnson’s government, said it “isn’t sensible” to build a domestic scheme when a Europe-wide version is “ready for us to join”.

The top scientist, asked whether Britain being outside of Horizon caused him frustration during his time as chief scientific adviser, said: “It caused me frustration inside (government), and it caused me pain and frustration outside.

“It is absolutely clear. A system like Horizon that allowed great collaboration right the way across Europe is now geopolitically important.

“China is in ascendancy in science and technology. America has obviously been doing great stuff but it has also become a little bit more protectionist.

“And we have suddenly cut ourselves off from this system. It is damaging to the EU and it is damaging to the UK.”

Sir Patrick said the Windsor Framework, the fix for the Northern Ireland Protocol, an element of the Brexit treaty, that Mr Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen agreed in February, should pave the way for the UK to rejoin Horizon.

He told the conference on Tuesday: “It is there with long established roots.

“It takes years to get those sort of systems set up, so trying to replicate that domestically isn’t sensible – although I do think there is an opportunity for us to be much more global.

“It is there ready for us to join.

“And I think once the Northern Ireland Protocol issues were not a block any longer, as Ursula von der Leyen said that day, they want us to join, we should join.”

Horizon is a collaboration involving Europe’s leading research institutes and technology companies.

EU member states contribute funds, which are then allocated to individuals or organisations on merit.

Sources have told PA news agency that the Prime Minister is considering a draft deal to join Horizon but No 10 has insisted in recent weeks that a “deal has not been agreed”.