On November 16th last year, during a debate on higher education Julian Sturdy said, "We really need to know whether Britain will be part of a wider collaboration with the EU and involved in the future beyond Horizon 2020, whatever it may be. We do not know what that future will be, but we need to make certain that UK universities play a leading role in it" (HERE Col 333WH).
One feels like slapping his face and telling him we were part of a wider collaboration with the EU and did know what the future was going to be and we were certain that UK universities would play a leading role in it - until he and his Brexiteer friends in the Conservative party decided to destroy all of that and start again.
In March this year he is asking written questions (HERE) about what role the UK will have in the 9th EU Research Technical Development Framework (we are in the 8th at the moment - called Horizon 2020) as we leave the EU and what discussions the DEXEU, David Davis' department, has had with the Russel Group of universities. The answers he got were completely non-committal as you might have expected. These decisions are not ours to make. Having "taken back control" we are now having to beg to be let back in to the parts of the EU we like, although we don't want to pay anything or come under the ECJ.
As a pro-European I sometimes think we and the EU would actually be better off separating for a while. Firstly, so that we actually experience the impact of being outside the EU and finally put to rest all the speculation about the Utopia that is supposed to await us. And secondly so the EU can get on with integrating further and improving the lives of EU citizens so we can see how it should be done.
