Sunak sidesteps question over whether Horizon deal will lead to further collaboration with EU – UK politics live

Prime minister speaks to journalists about decision to rejoin £85m science research programme but avoids discussing further collaboration

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Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists about the government’s decision to rejoin the EU’s Horizon science research programme on a visit to the University of Warwick. Here are the main points he made.

Sunak defended the length of time it took to rejoin Horizon, saying the government had to negotiate the right deal. Labour says the delay has been damaging. (See 9.52am.) But Sunak said:

We are associated to Horizon, which is the world’s largest international research partnership including countries not just from the EU but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand, with hopefully Canada and South Korea to join soon too.

We’ve taken the time to negotiate the right deal for the UK, a bespoke deal which works in our interests.

You would have seen today just overwhelming support for what the Government has agreed.

I listened to the science and research community here. They said that association to Horizon was a priority. That’s what I’ve delivered.

He sidestepped a question about whether the Horizon agreement would lead to the UK collaborating more closely with the EU in other areas. Asked about this, he said collaboration was important – but that it did not have to be with the EU. He said:

When it comes to the research world, collaboration is really important. The best research is often done across borders, but it’s not just about with EU countries. It’s actually much more global than that. And that’s why this programme is important. It includes EU countries but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand with hopefully Canada and South Korea as well. But that’s not the extent of our international collaboration.

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