PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Science Facilities and Laboratories - 1 September 2026 (Commons/Westminster Hall)

I will now call Alison Hume to move the motion. I hope that anybody seeking to speak has already asked permission from the hon. Member in charge of this debate, as is the convention. There will then be an opportunity for the Minister to respond.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the future of science facilities and laboratories.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart. Few debates can boast such an out-of-this-world subject as the search for dark matter; it is up there with the incredible physics of the Higgs boson, black holes and the big bang, and it is a field in which the UK has traditionally led the world.

My own interest in particle physics was sparked when I came up with the idea for a children’s science fiction television show called “The Sparticle Mystery”, which follows a group of children after an experiment at a cut-price British version of the large hadron collider goes wrong, sending everyone aged 15 and over into a parallel dimension—a kind of “Home Alone” planet Earth.

During the development of the series, I immersed myself in physics, spending lots of time researching at laboratories and science facilities, including visiting the ATLAS—A Toroidal LHC Apparatus—project at CERN in Switzerland and filming a series finale inside the ISIS science facility near Didcot. Little did I know that my adventures would continue when I became the Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Whitby; the incredible Boulby underground laboratory is located just on the edge of my patch—and just on the edge of making discoveries that will change our understanding of the universe.

I commend the hon. Lady on securing this debate. This is an immense issue: it is about providing the world-class science facilities and laboratories of tomorrow. Does she agree that, when it comes to spreading the moneys across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University in Belfast should be key places to ensure that money is available? The NHS, future science, apprenticeships and helping agri-tech—all those things come off the back of what she is saying.

I thank the hon. Member; he is right that those areas of academic expertise must continue to be a hotbed for physics talent.

Boulby underground laboratory, nestled between Saltburn and Whitby on the north-east coast of England, is the UK’s only deep underground science facility. Located 1.1 km beneath the Earth’s surface, in a working polyhalite and rock-salt mine, it is the deepest laboratory in the UK and one of only a dozen such facilities worldwide. I will never forget visiting the lab for the first time and descending for what seemed like an hour—it was actually about eight minutes—in a tiny lift towards the centre of the Earth, before walking out towards a pristine laboratory sitting in the dusty, science-fiction-like moonscape.

Inside, Boulby lab is home to an extraordinary range of research, from environmental science and biology to quantum physics. The lab’s greatest advantage lies in its depth: a quiet place in the universe, where studies can be carried out almost entirely free from interference from natural background radiation, including the search for dark matter.

I commend the hon. Lady on securing this debate. I share her passion for physics, although I make this point objectively: some of the proposed £160 million-plus reduction in funding will reduce the ability of younger people to learn a passion for physics. That is something we can all get together to encourage the Government to look at again.

I thank the hon. Member for making that important point. We lead the way in physics in the UK, and we want to continue that and continue to inspire young minds.

I draw colleagues’ attention to the fact that I chair the all-party parliamentary group on UNESCO world heritage sites. There is a question over the future funding of Jodrell Bank at the moment. Will my hon. Friend join me in asking the Minister to look at what we can do to ensure that that site, which has inspired many young people, will continue to be funded properly and retain its UNESCO designation?

I thank my hon. Friend for making that important point. I will come to Jodrell Bank later in my speech; I completely agree that it needs to be saved.

Dark matter is thought to make up most of the matter in the universe. It has played a major role in shaping the cosmos, but despite decades of effort it is yet to be detected. Discovering what dark matter is made of will be one of the biggest discoveries of our time. The Boulby lab has been a frontrunner in the race since the 1980s. It is the birthplace of the ZEPLIN technology that is now used in the world’s leading dark matter experiments. I want to welcome some of the incredible scientists working at the Boulby underground laboratory to the Public Gallery today, and thank them for making the journey down to Westminster.

In recent years, Boulby has been preparing to host a massive international experiment seeking to detect dark matter. This is not the stuff of films and TV—it is really happening. It is called the XLZD, and it is a $1 billion international science project that would build upon the legacy of ZEPLIN to create the most sensitive dark matter detector ever constructed. Only a small number of underground laboratories worldwide are considered capable of hosting such an experiment, and Boulby is one of them.

I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this important debate to us today. In Stevenage we have a leading life sciences sector. Our biggest employer is GSK. It was helped to set up there by the council and the Government in the 1990s. However, in the last few weeks it has announced it will be leaving Stevenage, despite plans to expand in the last couple of years. Will my hon. Friend join me in asking the Minister to do all that we can to make the most of that amazing life sciences site that GSK is leaving behind?

I thank my hon. Friend for making that important point. I am sure the Minister is aware that many hon. Members here are fighting for fantastic facilities and laboratories in their constituencies.

Preparations for the experiment have been under way since 2020. Boulby has attracted millions of pounds in investment, but hosting the experiment in the UK is still not guaranteed. Boulby is competing against underground labs across the world. In that context, the lab’s worst fears were realised in July this year, as the Science and Technology Facilities Council prioritisation review proposed cutting Boulby’s operating budget by a massive 40%, creating a perception of uncertainty about continued support for XLZD. Boulby has substantial fixed operating costs, so the bulk of required savings might have to be found from cuts to the staffing budget, potentially leading to redundancies at the lab as well as limiting opportunities for future expansion. The cuts are so drastic that they pose an existential threat to Boulby’s future—and, as hon. Members are aware, the issue goes far beyond Boulby. STFC’s prioritisation review has proposed sweeping cuts across the board for fundamental physics, nuclear physics and astronomy.

My hon. Friend is making a superb case for the importance of funding for her deep earth facility. I had the privilege of going to the National Oceanography Centre’s deep oceans facility, and the innovative science there on carbon sequestration is superb. Does she agree that the sustainability of that world-leading science is dependent on long-term funding certainty? The chop and change that goes on is damaging not just to the world-class science that we do in this country, but to our economy and our skills base.

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. Certainty of funding is so important. We risk cutting off everything at the knees and, with our plan for growth, that is not something that the Labour Government can afford to do.

The cuts are £162 million in cumulative savings by 2030. Brian Cox, TV scientist and professor at the University of Manchester, has likened the impact of these cuts to the “destruction of the future”. His concerns have been echoed by academics across the field, who fear that physics departments at universities will close. Professor Jeff Forshaw, also at Manchester, has said that these cuts are “annihilating” a field of research that inspired young people into physics.

Multiple physics facilities carrying out world-leading research now face serious funding challenges or the threat of closure. Diamond Light Source and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source are facing cuts of 15% apiece. The Jodrell Bank observatory, home to the UK’s largest radio telescope for nearly 70 years, faces closure as early as 2028.

The Jodrell Bank observatory has been doing fantastic, cutting-edge physics in my constituency and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Tim Roca) for a very long time, but it is regularly updated and retains its reputation for cutting-edge science. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be an absolute travesty if its funding were withdrawn?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right—it would be catastrophic. I completely agree with her. Other hon. Members have also mentioned Jodrell Bank. These cuts are threatening some of the UK’s most important scientific assets and arguably the entire discipline of UK physics.

I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for giving way. I am immensely proud to represent Boulby, which sits on the cusp of our two constituencies, and to have joined her on the incredible visit to that facility a few months ago. As she says, it is the UK’s only deep underground science laboratory, providing skilled jobs in a region that desperately needs them, yet it faces a 40% cut to its operating budget. That is not equitable with cuts across the country. Does she agree that, where STFC needs to make savings, it needs to do so in an equitable way, to ensure that we are not cutting from the regions that have already suffered the most?

My hon. Friend and constituency neighbour is absolutely right in that important intervention. The constituency he represents has some of the most deprived communities in the UK and would benefit most from the expansion of the Boulby lab.

Involvement in LHCb, the large hadron collider beauty experiment—one of the major experiments at CERN’s large hadron collider—is also in doubt. STFC has cancelled UK participation in the next upgrade programme because of cost pressures, despite the UK being a major contributor. It is not clear to scientists working on the project exactly why it has been deprioritised.

Cancelling projects and closing facilities will lead to the loss of talent and reduce UK competitiveness in high-precision science and international collaborations. There is also the negative impact it will have on the success of Labour’s industrial strategy. The proposed expansion at Boulby and the construction of the XLZD will generate substantial economic benefits for the north-east, North Yorkshire and the UK.

I agree with my hon. Friend entirely. This is about looking forward and investing in the future.

Independent analysis by Arup shows that the proposed expansion of the Boulby site and the construction of XLZD would bring approximately £587 million to the UK economy through the creation of skilled jobs, by increasing supply chains in advanced manufacturing and by attracting scientific investment into the region. There are also plans for a visitor centre to showcase the north-east’s remarkable contribution to our understanding of the universe, which could attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

Although the Government are increasing spending on research and development, I would be grateful if the Minister could answer a couple of questions. First, why does the facility in the north-east face more than double the cuts faced by facilities in the south? Will she set out how the Department, UK Research and Innovation and the STFC assessed the relative value of investment in fundamental physics compared with other areas of research and development? Will she publish the evidence that underpins the decisions? Has the Minister looked at the cumulative impact of the cuts on physics as a discipline in the United Kingdom?

On Boulby specifically, will the Minister please explain how the Government have assessed the laboratory’s unique strategic position? What weight has been given to the projected economic impact of the expansion of the Boulby lab? Finally, will the Minister explicitly restate the Government’s interest in and support for the XLZD project? It is a project of such international stature that it could deliver the discovery of dark matter, which would be worthy of a Nobel prize.

I appreciate that I have asked my hon. Friend the Minister a lot of questions, but I assure her that they pale in comparison with the number of questions physicists ask themselves every day. Science facilities such as Boulby are places where discoveries are made, young people are inspired, international partnerships are forged and the foundations of future industries are laid. With XLZD at Boulby, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the UK to make one of the biggest discoveries of our age in the search for dark matter. It offers transformational economic opportunity for the north-east, and would strengthen our industrial strategy, skills base and reputation on the world stage. I therefore urge the Minister to recognise the exceptional national value of Boulby underground laboratory and other UK science facilities and laboratories, and to ensure that Britain remains at the forefront of scientific discovery for decades to come.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) on securing this really important debate on the future of the UK’s science facilities and laboratories. She has been a strong advocate for the Boulby laboratory, which is just outside her constituency, and I thank her for her brilliant speech, which reflected her creative and unique insight into this vital sector. It is always great to hear about her work before she entered this place, and her adventures—it is pretty cool. I welcome and thank the incredible scientists from Boulby underground laboratory and the many other attendees who have joined us in the Gallery for this debate—it is a pleasure to see you all.

The Government are committed to ensuring that the UK remains a leading nation in science and technology, which are fundamental to our economy, our public services and our national security. On average, every £1 of public research and development investment leverages £2 of private investment and generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK in the long term. That investment is about backing the people, facilities and technologies that turn excellent research into practical benefits.

My hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Sarah Russell) talked powerfully about it being a travesty if e-MERLIN and Jodrell Bank were to cease scientific endeavour. Will the Minister take back from this place to her colleagues in the Department the strong message that we want a viable future for the continuation of amazing science at Jodrell Bank, and in particular the Bernard Lovell telescope and the e-MERLIN network?

I thank my hon. Friend for that important intervention, and also thank him, my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Sarah Russell) and the many other colleagues who have raised that issue, not just today but with the Government and Ministers consistently, for their continued campaigning and advocacy. I will take this opportunity to address the concerns about the future of the world-famous Jodrell Bank site, which have been heard loud and clear—I will feed them back to the relevant Minister. UKRI has confirmed that its funding for the e-MERLIN network, which makes use of telescopes at Jodrell Bank, will wind down in 2028. However, I want to provide reassurance that Jodrell Bank will continue to be a significant centre for radio astronomy, science and research, with a strong future ahead.

Is the Minister aware that staff at the Daresbury laboratory, not too far away from Jodrell Bank, have been asked to mothball CLARA—the compact linear accelerator for research applications—which is a 250-mega-electronvolt electron accelerator, alongside the biology lab that sits above it? Incidentally, that lab has never been used, as it has only just been put in. Is the Minister prepared to meet me and other Cheshire colleagues, because I am really concerned about what is happening to science in the north Cheshire corridor? It looks to me like the STFC is circling the wagons around facilities in the south of England at the expense of those in the north, so I would be interested in meeting my hon. Friend or the relevant Minister to look at how we can reverse some of the damaging cuts.

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important issue on behalf of his constituency and the sector more widely. I have heard him loud and clear and will feed that back to the Minister for Science, Innovation and Investment, who I am sure will be happy to discuss it further with my hon. Friend and any other colleagues who are keen to be kept in the loop.

I have mentioned how investment that backs people, facilities and technologies can not only turn research into practical benefits but strengthen our economy and support the high-skilled jobs that colleagues have mentioned throughout the debate. Such investment is vital to keeping the UK at the forefront of global science. The sites across the country are essential to that work, which is why I am proud that the Government have put forward the largest ever investment in research and development, with a record £86 billion to be invested between 2026-27 and 2029-30.

Some £38.6 billion of that investment will go to UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest research funder, with a mission to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive growth. UKRI supports the full spectrum of research and development, from curiosity-driven discovery research through to business innovation and commercialisation.

The Minister will know that the grant structure on which UKRI is based gives out grants for a maximum of three to five years. Very few are for five years—most are for three years or under—yet the sort of long-term scientific development that my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) elaborated on depends on certainty into the future. Will the Minister and her colleagues give real consideration to changing UKRI’s structure so that there is long-term funding certainty for fundamental science in this country?

I thank my hon. Friend for his work in this area. I have heard his reflections and his desire to see longer-term certainty, which I will feed back to the relevant Minister and the Department.

The benefits of our investment, building on the previous funding that I mentioned, will be felt right across the UK. Particularly in respect of this debate and the Yorkshire and the Humber region—I am a Yorkshire MP myself—UKRI’s £580 million investment in 2023-24 was significant.

My hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby mentioned a long list of vital science facilities, including Boulby, Diamond, ISIS and Jodrell Bank, which we have touched on, and I completely agree that they are not merely items on a balance sheet; they are national assets. Boulby is unique in that respect, as it is the UK’s deepest underground science facility. Located more than a kilometre beneath Yorkshire in a working mine, its depth and the surrounding salt rock mean that it is shielded from radiation, enabling world-leading research in areas such as dark matter and quantum technologies. I hope to answer many of my hon. Friend’s questions throughout my speech.

Our science and research ecosystem has lots of important research infrastructure. The UK’s science and technology successes are built not only on researchers making groundbreaking discoveries, or engineers developing new technologies, but on our world-class R&D facilities and capabilities—the essential tools that our research communities use every day. Those include the facilities that allow us to explore the building blocks of matter and the computing systems that allow scientists to turn raw data into models of the universe or treatments for disease, as well as the international collaborations that enable us to tackle grand scientific challenges that no country can solve alone.

Our research infrastructure makes the UK’s R&D achievements possible. The facilities are not only tools for research and industry but national assets, as I have mentioned. The landscape is changing rapidly. Facilities are becoming more connected and data-intensive than ever before, researchers are increasingly collaborating across borders, and the most powerful scientific instruments are often of a scale, cost and geographical reach beyond the capacity of any one nation to deliver alone. To ensure that our research facilities are ready for tomorrow, we must lay the groundwork today by supporting the facilities that allow researchers and innovators to produce the most insightful and impactful research.

I will briefly highlight some examples of the impact of our facilities on our understanding of science and the lives of people across the UK. As we heard from colleagues, the Diamond Light Source at Harwell in Oxfordshire is the UK’s national synchrotron. Currently undergoing a £500 million upgrade, Diamond generates intense beams of X-rays, allowing research to examine materials in extraordinary detail. This enables discovery and innovation in fields ranging from medicines and battery technology to advanced manufacturing and aerospace, including for companies such as Rolls-Royce. We are also a leading partner in major international facilities, sharing the costs and benefits of scientific endeavours that, as I have said, no country could undertake alone.

Also included in respect of our investment, and the Government’s absolute commitment to the sector, is the Square Kilometre Array observatory, headquartered in the UK at Jodrell Bank. I will come to that in just a second, but we are investing more than £300 million over 10 years to build the world’s largest radio telescope, enabling scientists to study the cosmos with unparalleled sensitivity, from the first stars and galaxies to signs of life beyond Earth.

The issue underlying a lot of this is the £160 million saving. My understanding is that that saving has come about because a previous agreement to match expanding costs for research has been reversed. Perhaps the Minister could tell me, or could ask the relevant Minister to let me know, who took the decision not to match those costs, which has resulted in the need for £160 million of savings.

I am coming to the difficult choices about how to prioritise funding. We can of course follow up with any further information that the hon. Gentleman requires from the relevant Minister.

Ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of global research requires not just record levels of investment, but difficult choices about how to prioritise funding. When a country has world-class research projects across so many disciplines and sectors, prioritisation is unavoidable. The fact that we cannot fund every excellent idea is a reflection of the depth, ambition and international competitiveness of UK research and innovation. But, of course, our responsibility is to ensure that the infrastructure we do support continues to deliver the greatest scientific, economic, industrial and societal benefit for the country, including in the places we have heard about today. That means taking long-term decisions.

I thank the Minister for being generous in giving way—I am aware of the time. Given the Government’s stated commitment to place-based growth, regional rebalancing and the growth mission, how can a reduction in support for Boulby laboratory be reconciled with their objectives?

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention and for the passion we have heard in the debate, as well as her desire to fight for Boulby, her constituents and the sector as a whole. The Minister for Science has written to her today and will be happy to discuss with her the budget pressures and the difficult decisions that UKRI has taken to ensure that STFC remains financially sustainable and is able to support world-leading science in the future.

The Minister knows that I am a supporter of her work to champion the north in the Department. Given that the team from Boulby have travelled all this way, will she take a couple of seconds out of her day to meet them after the debate and discuss the challenges they are experiencing? I know she is not the Minister directly responsible, but I am sure they would appreciate it.

Of course—that would be a pleasure and I would be honoured to do so. I reiterate that Boulby will remain an internationally significant research facility. It will continue to support a range of world-leading underground science and provide highly skilled employment in the region, with the potential to play an even larger role in the UK’s scientific future.

My hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby highlighted in her speech the challenges with the operational budget at Boulby. UKRI has also announced funding that will sustain the UK’s continued engagement with the international XLZD dark matter experiment, which my hon. Friend mentioned, beyond the current £7.8 million infrastructure fund grant, which ends in 2027. Boulby will remain well placed to pursue future funding opportunities alongside its outstandingly significant work.

I thank colleagues again for being in Westminster Hall to support this debate. I want to offer reassurances that UKRI and STFC are engaging directly with facilities, laboratories, partners, staff and trade unions throughout the implementation of the saving plan, including in respect of any potential workforce implications. However, to be clear, no staff exits are expected this financial year, and formal processes will follow where needed.

The UK has an extraordinary scientific heritage, but our task today is not merely to celebrate past achievements but to ensure that the next generation of discoveries and the innovations they will enable happen here. The Government will achieve that goal, not just through record investment in public R&D but through responsible stewardship of our national assets, international co-operation, and taking the difficult decisions necessary to ensure we have a portfolio of research facilities that are fit for the future, because the future of British science will depend not only on the brilliance of our researchers but on the strength of the infrastructure that supports them. I once again thank all colleagues for being here to support the debate.

Question put and agreed to.