The United Kingdom (UK) could be left out of Horizon Europe, the European Union’s (EU) biggest science, technology, and innovation program, which has a budget of more than US$100 billion. In a speech given to the European Commission on June 8, British science minister George Freeman emphasized that time for a positive resolution on the impasse was running out. On the same day, British scientists funded by the program said they had been notified that their research projects may be canceled. The UK’s participation in Horizon Europe is under threat due to the country’s departure from the EU in 2020. The situation has since deteriorated, mainly due to the failure to reach an agreement on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU. “UK participation in Horizon is being used as a bargaining chip in a much broader and bigger political negotiation,” Kieron Flanagan, professor of science and technology policy at the University of Manchester, told the journal Nature on June 9.
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