Britain is issuing a fresh appeal to Brussels to end the delay in granting access to EU scientific research as agreed in the post-Brexit trade deal.
In an address to British and European parliamentarians at Westminster, Europe Minister Leo Docherty will say that in continuing to deny access to research programmes such as Horizon, the EU is failing to fulfil its part of the agreement.
He will say that both sides stand to gain from co-operation on shared challenges, from climate change to to global health and energy security.
“The UK’s participation would be a clear win-win for the UK and the EU, but the UK cannot wait much longer,” he will say, according to advance extracts of his address.
Despite the challenges in our relationship, the UK and EU are effective allies where it matters most— Leo Docherty
“The EU’s approach is causing intolerable uncertainty for our research and business communities.”
Although differences over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol have dominated the recent dialogue between London and Brussels, his comments underline that other sources of friction remain.
In his speech, Mr Docherty will however emphasise how the war in Ukraine has demonstrated the importance of the two sides working together.
“A clear lesson from the last nine months has been that despite the challenges in our relationship, the UK and EU are effective allies where it matters most,” he will say.
“The Ukrainians have stood firm against Vladimir Putin, in part because of the actions of our Government and those across the EU. That action has been stronger because it has been coordinated between us.
“I urge our European friends to continue to work with us in providing more weapons, imposing more sanctions, and backing Ukraine to push Russian forces out.”
