Austerity is the watchword for many governments as they struggle to recover from the global economic upheaval. The UK is no exception, and on 25 November chancellor George Osborne will lay out his plans to cut public spending. While other countries have invested more in science since 2008 in an attempt to drive economic growth, the UK has not followed suit. That strategy, a legacy of the coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, was criticised this week by MPs on the House of Commons science and technology select committee. But in May, UK voters kicked that government out and replaced it, for the first time since the 1980s, with a Conservative government dedicated to sharp cuts in public spending. Back then science funding took a beating; for scientists it was a time of retreat and pessimism. Fears are widespread that history is about to repeat itself.
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