Lost Horizon
Horizon is the multi billion pound EU research programme that the UK decided to stay in after Brexit. It is so important, powerful and influential that leaving would have been madness, although that didn’t stop this government from leaving many other very sensible schemes.
However it seems the UK is not actually a member of Horizon at the moment, as its foot dragging, can kicking, disruptive and uncooperative actions during and since Brexit mean the EU doesn’t trust the UK anymore.
So they won’t approve any schemes involving UK universities or researchers, until the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol is settled. .
You won’t have seen much of this on the news but British researchers have just been given 2 months to move to the continent, or hand back their grants.
Being the spoilt brat in the room has consequences, this time for one of the sectors of the British economy which is world beating.
But educational research schemes are obscure, long term, and difficult to explain, the government will lie and blame the EU, lie and say it doesn’t matter, lie and say they have a better plan.
I doubt very much whether this kind of economic self harm is included in the calculation that Brexit will cost the British economy 6% of GDP; as no one thought the government could possibly be this stupid.
But they are.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.