No extra money for Crick despite Johnson’s ‘billion pounds’ pledge

Boris Johnson’s promise to “put another billion pounds” into the Francis Crick Institute will not lead to a significant increase in the laboratory’s public funding, it has emerged.

The outgoing prime minister used a visit to the St Pancras-based biomedical research centre on 11 July – his first public appearance after resigning – to emphasise his determination to “recapture our status as one of the world’s great science superpowers”, adding that “science and technology are absolutely crucial to this country’s long-term health”.

He recorded a video address to announce: “We just put another billion pounds in over seven years, working with various other institutions to make sure that we help these incredible scientists not just to cure diseases but also to power commercial development [and] to power jobs and growth for the long term.”

Details of the new funding suggest it is only a renewal of existing support for the Crick, which is jointly funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the Wellcome Trust. That may mean the institute could face a real-terms cut in state support given inflation is set to hit 11 per cent later this year.

According to figures provided to Times Higher Education, the MRC will provide £406 million (41 per cent) of the Crick’s core funding over the next seven years, while CRUK will provide £458 million (45 per cent) and Wellcome £137 million (14 per cent).

In a statement, the MRC confirmed the settlement “would maintain current levels of activity, not increase it”. The proportion of the Crick’s funding covered by the MRC would remain the same as the previous five-year funding period (41 per cent), it said.

The award represents the “base-case presented by the Crick, which takes into account the increased operational costs of running the building and its technology platforms”, it added.

In 2020-21, the Crick received some £58 million in research council funding – about 37 per cent of its overall £155 million annual income that year, according to its latest financial accounts. If that level of funding were provided to the Crick for each of the next seven years, it would equate to £406 million – the same sum committed by the MRC under Mr Johnson’s announcement.

In a statement, the Crick said that the “funding ensures we can continue to deliver on our science but is also a commitment to investing in UK science and the important national role the Crick plays, through services and initiatives including our science technology platforms and national centres”.

Overall, the £1 billion commitment from all funders “represents an uplift” in funding, it added.

Speaking ahead of Mr Johnson’s visit, Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Crick, commented that “this is an investment that promotes UK science” and that the “government has recognised the need to expand research budgets, because our future relies on it”.

“For the UK to be a global science power, we also need to be collaborators in the international science community and critically need to maintain our current powerful links with scientists in Europe,” added Sir Paul.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com