Sir Patrick Vallance, the new Science Minister, has called for a relaxation of visa rules and said Brexit had been a “problem” for the sector in aa departure from Government policy.
Vallance, who was chief scientific adviser during the Covid pandemic, said the UK needs to be “competitive” with other nations in terms of attracting global talent, and suggested the cost of obtaining a visa was “too high”.
But the minister was immediately slapped down by a Home Office spokeswoman, who said lowering visa fees was “not Government policy”.
Sir Keir Starmer, has been careful not to criticise Brexit and has committed to bringing immigration down.
Labour’s election manifesto contained commitments to “reduce net migration” and that there would be “no return” to “freedom of movement”.
Vallance was made a peer by the Prime Minister last week so he could serve as Science Minister.
His comments came amid major questions over how far Starmer is willing to go on resetting post-Brexit relations with the EU having made winning back Leave voters key to the strategy behind his election victory.
The PM is also facing pressure from Brussels to do a deal on youth migration, which some experts have warned could be a “quid pro quo” to unlock better trading arrangements, including a veterinary agreement to ease food imports and exports, a key Labour demand.
Vallance spoke as he attended the G7 Science Ministers meeting in Bologna, Italy, where he stressed that the “needs to be part of an international science community”
Asked about Brexit on BBC Radio 4’s World At One, the minister said “Brexit was definitely a problem for science” because the UK left the Horizon research programme for nearly three years, before rejoining under Rishi Sunak in 2023.
Vallance appeared to sidestep the question of whether the Government could make concessions on the free movement of people to the EU to get closer relations, but stressed: “You can’t do the type of science that everyone’s trying to do to make progress in isolation, you need brains that come with other backgrounds, other thought processes, other training.”
Pressed further on the detail, he suggested visa charges needed to come down.
The minister said: “We know there’s an impact of the difficulty of some of those schemes, so that means there is an opportunity there to try and make this easier again for people who do come in to do contributions to scientific knowledge creation and indeed to companies.”
He added: “There are lots of different bits to the visa issue, including the cost which is very high at the moment for people coming to the UK that needs to be looked at and we need to think about how we can make the environment right for people to come who we want to have here contributing to science.”
Asked whether Starmer was on board with his call to make immigration easier for scientific talent, Vallance mentioned the Government’s five missions, adding: “All are dependent on science and technology to deliver them.”
Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly MP said: “The mask has slipped and we’re not even a week in. The Labour government are already in chaos on migration with ministers contradicting each other.
“We all know Labour are in favour of rejoining the EU and opening our borders, they just didn’t want to tell the British public before the election because voters disagree”.
This story has been updated.