Research and development in Britain relies hugely on companies that are themselves dependent on close EU ties
There is a warning to the government in the latest official figures on research and development: they reveal that most of the research is being done by the three industries most vulnerable to Brexit.
Another red flag is the UK’s 11th-place ranking in the European R&D league – behind the Nordics, France and Germany, which we have come to expect, but also, surprisingly, Austria, Slovenia and the Czechs.
For years, pharma companies have milked the EU’s R&D budget, using it to subsidise some of their most basic research