Russell Group submission to the 2020 Budget

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03 March 2020

Today we have published our submission to the 2020 Budget, setting out the areas we believe should be prioritised to support the Government’s ambition to level up opportunity and investment across the regions and nations of the UK and unleash the country’s full potential.

The Budget this month is only the first major fiscal event this year and we recognise that some of the following proposals may need to be developed further in the upcoming Spending Review. However, early signalling of the Government’s intent, following the welcome pre-Election announcements and manifesto commitments on research and innovation for example, will help to ensure economic and social progress can be delivered at pace.

We therefore propose the 2020 Budget should deliver on five key priority areas for the UK that will, in turn, underpin wider social and economic transformation for the country over the coming decades:

Develop a new approach to deliver place-based economic growth
Turbocharge investment in fundamental research
Launch strategic science-based missions for high-risk, high-return
Strengthen the talent pipeline for high-level skills
Maximise our opportunities for global collaboration.

Investing in place-based economic growth, in fundamental research, in key strategic science-based missions and in the talent pipeline for future high-level skills will boost our knowledge economy and help realise the levelling-up ambition. It will also mean the UK can make real progress on key priorities such as delivering on the net zero emissions target, improving health and equality outcomes and translating our excellent research ideas into innovation.

As this Budget is the first to be delivered after leaving the EU, we also hope the Government will be bold in its ambitions for Global Britain: seeking a strong future relationship with Europe for research and education, ringfencing funding for full association to Horizon Europe, while also looking for opportunities to enhance collaborations around the world. At the same time, we are determined to continue doing our part to deliver on the Government’s priority to create a stronger and more dynamic economy.

Our budget submission summary and full representation can be found below: