Scientists and engineers to tell their Brexit stories

Prospect union members from the British Antarctic Survey, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, European Medicines Agency, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Sellafield will talk about how Brexit will impact on their work and their lives.

Also speaking at the booklet’s launch will be: Iain Wright, chair of the business, energy and industrial strategy select committee and Mary Creagh, chair of the environmental audit select committee.

“The credibility of UK science, technology, engineering and maths will be undermined if we restrict international collaboration,” said Prospect deputy general secretary Sue Ferns.

“EU nationals working in STEM professions make a critical contribution to their employing organisations. Losing them will jeopardise capacity, operational delivery and reputation.

“Many of the world-leading programmes in which the UK is involved cannot be scaled to a national level. Our investment in developing such expertise must not jeopardised by politicians who ignore the evidence.”

Prospect, which represents 50,000 scientists and engineers across the public and private sectors, is campaigning for:

• guaranteed rights for EU nationals already working in the UK to remain here
• continued international mobility for scientists and engineers, including for UK citizens to work in other EU countries
• assurances that the UK will not exit Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community), at least until equivalent provisions have been put in place
• assurances about funding after 2020
• early clarity about the UK’s relationship with the EU (and other countries) to provide assurances to international professional networks and mitigate against the UK being frozen out of collaborative proposals
• strong repudiation of incidences of racism and xenophobia wherever and whenever they occur
• engagement with stakeholders in developing a long-term strategy for UK STEM.

What the scientists and engineers say:

“Leaving the EU is likely to make it even harder to secure funding and recruit specialist staff.”

“Relocating the European Medicines Agency will delay NHS access to new medicines.”

“The UK has been a fantastic place to do world-class research and the government now needs to ensure that this is not put at risk in the upcoming negotiations with the EU.”

“Antarctica, more than anywhere else, is a place where science, exploration of the unknown, and stewardship and protection of the natural environment depend on international cooperation and collaboration.”

The launch will take place on Tuesday 7 March from 1-2pm in conference room A, ground floor, 1 Parliament Street SW1A.

The report is the first from Prospect as part of its new all-party parliamentary group on the future of work.

The group aims to engage with politicians on how to raise UK productivity by developing skills, training and the union’s ‘Good work’ agenda. It is chaired by Lord Balfe of Dulwich and Daniel Zeichner MP