Britain has been locked out of the £81 billion scheme since Brexit – amid warnings it will damage competitiveness.

Sir Paul Nurse said being part of the EU’s science research programme is ‘crucial’ for the success of the UK’s science sector.

Experts insist successes of Brussels’ €95bn programme could never be replicated by a UK-only substitute.

Nobel laureate says prime minister may not have “had the best advice” on EU programme. / Paul Nurse has said that the government’s alternative plans to joining the EU’s Horizon Europe R&D programme will be “utterly inadequate”.

The UK’s science community is urging the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to match funding to rhetoric, as arguments continue over where the budget for the UK’s association to the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme will come from.

Scientists fear the UK has lost its way because of Brexit, and scientific research could suffer as a result, the head of the UK’s biggest biomedical research lab has warned.

Venki Ramakrishnan says Horizon programme is vital to ensuring UK retains influence.

In the words of another current cliché, UK science is already ‘world-beating’. But researchers are concerned that ministers’ plans may put that status in jeopardy as MARTIN MCQUILLAN reports.

A Nobel prize-winning scientist has said Brexit has cast the UK “several decades into the past” and feared it would damage the country’s standing in the scientific community.

Nobel scientists warn Britain will lose ‘superpower’ status if access barred to €100bn EU fund

The prime minister’s Brexit policy is sacrificing the UK’s science reputation – and billions of pounds in EU grants.

Nobel prize winner warns UK science will suffer unless it can gain access to Horizon Europe. / One of Britain’s leading researchers has warned of a “major blow” to national science if ministers cannot secure access to a massive research programme that is being drawn up by the EU.

Dozens of scientists write letter to May and Juncker setting out their concerns.