Johnson said some clueless things about the UK becoming a science superpower. Several scientists react. Some try the "it is good to hear positive words, but let's see" approach. Others, notably Martin Rees, say it like it is.
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Prof Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, and Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, University of Cambridge, said:
“Brexit has a special downside for science – simply because science is an enterprise that is especially international and collaborative. The UK has traditionally been ‘welcoming’, and its scientific strength benefits hugely from the participation of EU citizens. Even if visas are readily available, highly skilled people are only willing to settle if they know there is freedom of movement for families etc. Cutting the vexatious form-filling now needed to apply for a Tier 1 Visa is of course a welcome move, but its effect will be no more than marginal – and far outweighed by the negative impact of Brexit itself.
“And incidentally it’s absurd to suggest that post Brexit we will develop stronger links with the rest of the world. We’re doing this anyway and as I said above, it would be harder to attract top scientists post-Brexit because we’ll be perceived as a less attractive destination.
“We won’t just lose EU citizens. If you were a young scientist from (say) India who wanted experience in the West, you’ll be less likely to put the UK above (say) Canada or Germany if you knew that it was becoming marginalised and less welcoming.
“The EU is one of three leading ‘blocs’ in world science, the others being the US and the far East; and we are the leading scientific country in the EU., with whose member countries we have wider links than with either of the other two blocs.
“Our international standing is being embarrassingly enfeebled by this Government’s stance and rhetoric.
“It’s absurd, and baffling to our foreign colleagues, that we are being put on a ‘war footing’ to achieve a status which is manifestly – in the short and medium term at least – worse than the status quo. And as Keynes famously said ‘in the long run we’re all dead’. Far better to abort this misadventure and revoke Article 50.”
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