Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps he plans to take during negotiations on leaving the EU to seek continued UK participation in the European Research Council after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr David Jones

The Department is leading the UK’s negotiations to leave the European Union and establish the future relationship between the EU and the UK. We need a UK approach and clear objectives for negotiations. The process for leaving the EU and determining our future relationship will clearly not be brief or straightforward, so we need to take time to think through our objectives and approach.

The Government will ensure that the UK remains a world leader in international research collaboration, and will expect close collaboration between the UK and the EU in science to continue. UK businesses and universities should continue to bid for competitive EU funds while we remain a member of the EU. The Government will work with the European Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded, and will underwrite the payment of such awards even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.