Proposals at this weekend’s party conference in Cardiff would make it Green Party policy to increase science spending to at least 0.8% of GDP.
UK public spending on scientific research and development over the last few years has not risen above 0.6% of GDP (1), and is currently trailing behind EU leaders Finland and Sweden, and equal with Spain at 10th. (2) Greens believe this commitment is vital in order to bring UK spending above the European average.
The proposals also aim to encourage transparency and wider public engagement with scientific issues by requiring all publicly funded research to be published, and by bringing privately funded research performed at universities under the Freedom of Information Act.
Notes
1. See http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/documents/2009/CaSEGDPR&D.pdf.
2. European Innovation Scoreboard statistics from: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/02/european-union-research-and-development-spending/.