Oct. 7: Eight Nobel prize-winning academics in Britain warned on Thursday that the Tory-LibDem coalition’s decision to impose a cap on immigration will threaten the UK’s position as a centre of scientific excellence.
The coalition’s plan to limit migrant numbers from outside the EU “would damage our ability to recruit the brightest young talent as well as distinguished scientists into our universities and industries,” the scientists, including the two Russians immigrants who won the Nobel prize for physics on Tuesday, said in a letter to the Times. The cap of 24,100 work visas for non-EU citizens, introduced as an interim measure in June, was promised by the Conservative party.
They urged the Tory-led government to adapt the immigration cap to recognise the needs of science and industry, as they have already done for sport. “The government has seen fit to introduce an exception to the rules for Premier League footballers. It is a sad reflection of our priorities as a nation if we cannot afford the same recognition for elite scientists and engineers,” they added.
The letter was signed by eight of the eleven living British or British-based scientists to win a science Nobel since 1996: Sir Paul Nurse, Sir Tim Hunt, Sir Martin Evans, Sir Harry Kroto, Sir John Walker, Sir John Sulston, Professor Andre Geim and Professor Konstantin Novoselov.