Brexit is to blame for some of the problems faced by the science industry, a government minister claimed yesterday.
Sir Patrick Vallance, who was given a peerage and made a science minister by new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, said 'Brexit was definitely a problem'.
And he said that the Government should loosen freedom of movement rules around visas for scientists and their families to live in the UK.
It will stoke fears that Sir Keir will unpick Brexit while re-negotiating the post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels, with most of his Cabinet having voted to Remain.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4′s World At One, Sir Patrick, who was the government's chief scientific adviser during the Covid-19 pandemic, said leaving the EU had damaged the competitiveness of the UK science sector.
He said: 'Brexit was definitely a problem for science. We were part of a very successful European funding scheme with very large collaborations right the way across Europe which took a setback when we had to leave that scheme, and getting back into it has been a big achievement. I'm really pleased we are back in it.'
This was a reference to the Horizon scheme, a Europe-wide scientific co-operation project which the UK has agreed to rejoin after initially leaving as a result of the Brexit vote. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struck a deal to re-join it last year.
Asked if he would be pushing new PM Sir Keir to agree closer ties with the EU, even if that meant making concessions on free movement, Sir Patrick said: 'You can't do the type of science that everyone is trying to do to make progress in isolation.' He added: 'You need brains that come with other backgrounds, other thought processes, other training.'
On loosening visa rules, Sir Patrick said: 'There is an opportunity there to try and make this easier for people who come in to do contributions to scientific knowledge creation and to companies.
'We've got to be realistic as to how we do that, but we need to be as competitive as other countries in terms of attracting that talent.' He added: 'There are lots of visa issues, including the cost, which is very high at the moment for people coming to the UK, that needs to be looked at.
'We need to think about how we make the environment right for people to come who we want to have here contributing to science.' Sir Keir has said that he will renegotiate the post-Brexit trade deal struck by Boris Johnson, which is up for review next year.
He has stressed that he will not take Britain back into the bloc's single market or customs union and has ruled out a return to freedom of movement.
However, Brexiteers point out that Brussels will ask for something in return and fear Sir Keir could cave in on freedom of movement rules or align the UK more closely on trade rules.
Sir Patrick's claims about Brexit come after the Science Minister was criticised by experts who say he helped stifle discussion into whether Covid originated from a leak in a Chinese laboratory.
Nicknamed 'Dr Doom' for pandemic projections about the virus, he became well-known for being the face of bleak SAGE projections, regularly appearing next to ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and chief medical adviser, Chris Whitty.
Before taking on the role of chief adviser in 2018, he was an academic and a consultant physician as well as the president of research and development at GlaxoSmithKline.
However his service during the COVID-19 pandemic has not come without controversy, as the new Prime Minister has received backlash from experts for his appointment.
'We know Vallance was among those figures actively seeking to stop speculation about a lab leak,' said Matt Ridley, author of Viral: The Search For The Origin of Covid-19. 'The new government must share all its information on this vital issue now.'
Lord Vallance, 64, is linked to concerns that prominent scientists closed down suggestions that Covid might have originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
He took part in their teleconference in the pandemic's initial weeks that led to publication of an influential paper in a journal stating that the authors 'do not believe that any laboratory-based scenario is plausible.'
Whitehall has refused to release details of his role in the discussions, redacting almost every word of 32 emails when replying to this newspaper's Freedom of Information request.
In March 2020, Sir Vallance had advocated for the Government's 'herd immunity' approach in not closing schools during the first wave of restrictions.
He became well-renowned after showing a now notorious chart on television, which indicated there could be a staggering 4,000 deaths per day by December 20 if pandemic restrictions were not put in place.
However the statistics had been determined from an outdated model which estimated there would be 1,000 deaths every day by early November.
Certain anti-lockdown Conservative MPs had branded these predictions as 'scare mongering' to which Sir Patrick responded that it was his job to provide data not optimism.
In August 2022, 'Dr Doom's' reign came to an end as the scientific adviser resigned from his post.
During the COVID-19 inquiry in November, SIr Patrick lockdown restrictions should have been implemented 'earlier', 'broader' and 'harder'.