Horizon Europe

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Newnham (LD)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Liberal Democrat Benches.

[Baroness Smith of Newnham (LD)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, in his absence for persistently bringing the issue of Horizon Europe to your Lordships’ House. Today, obviously, we can be very glad that the UK has rejoined, and I declare my interest as a professor of European politics at Cambridge and as having previously received money from European Union research funding. Clearly, as an academic, I am delighted that we are back in, but how much is this blitz of information about rejoining Horizon Europe costing the Government and how far have we lost out by being an associate member and not a full member? As the Minister said, we are now treated like other associate members; what does that mean in practice?