The newly elected Labor government of the United Kingdom will have to tackle a long list of topics after a clear victory in yesterday's general election. Scientists hope that the upheavals will bring positive changes.

With a clear majority of more than 170 seats in yesterday's vote, Labor will form the next government in the United Kingdom and thus end conservative rule for 14 years. In his first speech before Downing Street 10, the new Prime Minister Keir Strander said that his government would "rebuild Great Britain with prosperity from every community" in order to fix many of the problems in the country's public service and the institutions.

“With this election result, the new Labor government under Sir Keir Strandmer has a real chance of driving changes in the United Kingdom," said Alicia Greated, Managing Director of Campaign for Science and Engineering. "Science, engineering and research and development are huge assets for the United Kingdom's ability to innovate and economic growth."

Joe Marshall, Managing Director of the National Center for Universities and Business (NCUB), said that his organization was "pleased to see how central research and innovation in the manifesto of the Labor party" and that innovation "is in the foreground of the government's economic plan and should form the basis of its new industrial strategy.

money worries

An area that requires immediate attention is the financing of the British universities, many of which have been in a precarious financial situation since 2017 due to a decline in international students and frozen tuition fees. The universities' finances are "one of the things that could explode in the first few months of a Labor government," says James Wilsdon, a science policy researcher at the University College London. An estimated 40% of British universities have a deficit this year, and some are threatened by bankruptcy, he adds.

During their tenure, the conservatives increased the visit fees and introduced stricter criteria for foreign researchers who wanted to come to the United Kingdom to work or study. This tightened the situation because international applications at British universities declined by 44% this year. "The real problem of the past 14 years of government was that the universities were seen as evil, liberal, 'watchful' public institutions," says Kieron Flanagan, science policy researcher at the University of Manchester, UK. "At the same time, the conservatives have followed a pro-scientific, pro-research and anti-university policy." In contrast, Labor "made it clear that they will not continue this war against the universities," says Flanagan. But he adds that the party was vague in her manifesto how it would tackle the problem of university finances. It has a few options, including increasing the tuition fees, which would be "politically indigestible", says Flanagan, or increasing public expenses for universities.

In her manifesto in terms of general research and development funding, Labor has announced that she wants to "abolish short financing cycles for important research and development institutions" such as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), "in favor of ten-year budgets". This would be a popular step for scientists. "Science works on long time scales, so it helps to create this security to attract private investments," says Martin Smith, a political expert in London's biomedical funding organization Wellcome. It is unlikely that the new government will implement this reform goal immediately, he adds. "That would be something that comes up in the output overview in autumn."

New Minister of Science

In the coming days, Starmer will put together his cabinet, which will also include the appointment of ministers to monitor science and research. While Labor was in the opposition, such positions Peter Kyle, Minister of Shave for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Chi Onwurah, held the Shadow Minister for Industry Strategy, Science and Innovation. Kyle is "an influential figure that is close, and I think most people would consider it a very positive result if he continued this role," says Wilsdon. Smith says that onwurah is "in business for a very long time and is very familiar with science policy" and the science sector "would feel calmed if it has a role".

The formation of a new government can also bring about changes to the ministries. Scientists will be interested in seeing whether Labor maintains the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) that established the conservative government in February 2023. Smith says it is too early to say whether DSIT was successful, but basically the ministry enables "the ability to coordinate the science agenda across the entire government".