Universities including St Andrews face a massive 50% funding cut to vital research projects including coronavirus recovery, it has been warned.
A reduction in money to the Overseas Development Assistance office, a knock-on impact from the government’s decision to cut overseas aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP, will seriously impact the amount of money institutions like St Andrews will receive, Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain has said.
The North East Fife representative has called on the UK Government to act as “global citizens” during this pandemic and beyond and commit to sending more support to developing countries.
Procedure not correct
As well as concerns over the amount of money going to research institutions in the future, Ms Chamberlain said the way the Conservative government was making changes to the funding allocation was wrong.
“When the Government announced last summer the department for international development would merge with the Foreign Office, I (raised my concerns to) the Foreign Secretary over future Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funding – previously set at 0.7% of the UK’s GDP in a law brought about by the Liberal Democrats,” she said.
“Last week, the Speaker granted an emergency debate on the same issue, as the UK Government is proceeding with a cut in development spending without allowing MPs to vote on it.
“This is a problem – because the level was set in an Act of Parliament, it should only be changed through another Act of Parliament, not the Government acting on its own.
“It would be a lie to say it has been anything but a difficult year,but because aid is determined as a percentage of GDP, spending will reduce.
“The prospect of responding to such a global shock was considered when the target was set – the need to protect ourselves was built in.
“ODA spending cuts also have a direct impact on work within the UK. This includes research funding to universities.
“St Andrews University are currently looking at up to 50% cuts to some of their projects that are supporting work in areas such as the Covid response and wider sanitation initiatives.
“I’ve engaged the Scottish Office on this issue – the Government is keen that the UK becomes a global innovation hub, but decisions such as that on ODA damage that ambition.
“We must do more to support the rest of the world respond to the pandemic.
“In my role as co-Chair of the all party parliamentary group for antibiotics and HIV and Aids, I’ve signed letters in support of retaining the 0.7% aid spending figure and been calling on the Government to do more to support global vaccination initiatives.
“The reality of the Covid-19 pandemic is globally no one is safe until everyone is safe.
“We know global inequalities, poverty, means many around the world cannot take precautions to protect themselves.
“We cannot expect those without access to clean water – 785 million at last count in 2017 – to be able to wash their hands for 20 seconds regularly.
“We see these risks at home with the emerging variants that have driven new waves of infections.
“This is a global pandemic. We need to act as global citizens.”
Government “committed to investment”
A spokesperson for the department of business, energy and industrial strategy said: “We are committed to strengthening the UK’s world class reputation for research and innovation.
“This year alone, we will spend more than £10 billion to address poverty, tackle climate change, fight covid and improve global health.
“We are working with our delivery partners, including UK Research and Innovation, to implement a new research and development settlement for 2021/22 that delivers on our domestic and international R&D ambitions.”