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The new Science Minister, Sir Patrick Vallance, called for visa rules to be relaxed, saying Brexit was a departure from Government policy and a “problem” for the science sector.
Mr Vallance, who served as chief scientific adviser during the coronavirus pandemic, said the UK needed to be “competitive” with other countries in attracting the world’s best talent, and suggested visa costs were “too high”.
But a Home Office spokesman was quick to rebuke the minister, saying reducing visa fees was “not government policy”.
Sir Keir Starmer has been careful not to criticise Brexit and has pledged to reduce immigration.
Labour’s election manifesto included pledges to “reduce net immigration” and “not go back” to “freedom of movement”.
Vallance was appointed a peer by the Prime Minister last week and will take up the role of Science Minister.
Starmer has placed great importance on winning back Brexit supporters as a strategy to win the election, and his comments come amid major questions about how far he intends to go to rebuild ties with the EU after Brexit.
The Prime Minister is also under pressure from the EU to reach an agreement on youth immigration, but some experts warn it could be a “pay-off” to achieve better trade deals, such as a veterinary agreement to make it easier to import and export food, a key Labour demand.
Speaking at a meeting of G7 science ministers in Bologna, Italy, Vallance stressed the need for “we to be part of the international scientific community.”
Asked about Brexit on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, the minister said “Brexit has undoubtedly been a problem for science” after the UK left the Horizon research programme for nearly three years, before rejoining in 2023 under Rishi Sunak.
Vallance appeared to decline to answer a question about whether the government could make concessions on the free movement of people into the EU in order to strengthen ties with the bloc, but stressed that “the science that everyone is working on cannot proceed in isolation. You need different backgrounds, different thought processes, differently trained minds.”
When pressed for further details, he suggested that visa fees should be reduced.
“We know there are implications of some of these systems being difficult, which means there is an opportunity to try and make it easier again for people coming to contribute to scientific knowledge creation and enterprise,” the minister said.
He added: “There are many different aspects to the visa issue. The costs for people to come to the UK are currently very high and need to be considered. We need to think about how we can create an enabling environment for people to come and contribute to science.”
Asked whether he supported Mr Starmer’s call to make it easier for scientific talent to immigrate, Vallance listed the government’s five missions, adding that “they all depend on science and technology to be delivered”.
This story has been updated.