Jim Wild, RAS President, writes:
“The Royal Astronomical Society welcomes an upcoming debate at the Houses of Parliament about cuts impacting astronomy and encourages all Fellows to contact their MPs to urge them to attend.
It will take place on Tuesday 1 September from 1-1.30pm in Westminster Hall.
Last month it emerged that measures to address a devastating funding crisis will put a wide range of UK astronomy projects, facilities and international partnerships under severe pressure.
The recent warning that astronomy at Jodrell Bank Observatory could end has attracted significant public attention, but it is only one part of a much broader picture. Other internationally important programmes are also threatened, such as UK involvement in the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaiʻi, prompting serious concern from the RAS about the future strength and breadth of UK astronomy.
The consequences of the cuts are only just starting to emerge, and their impact will also extend well beyond astronomy, affecting other strategically important areas of UK science, including particle physics and nuclear research.
Intense lobbying from the RAS and leading scientists has undoubtedly helped soften the blow for UK astronomy, but the future is still bleak and the cuts so deep that more needs to be done to campaign for a re-think.
The latest analysis of the impact of the cuts across STFC-funded fundamental astronomy projects is 35 per cent, which sits uncomfortably against the headline figure of the 10 per cent budget reduction to projects quoted by UKRI and is much closer to the impacts originally feared at the beginning of the year.
RAS President Professor Jim Wild said: “The Westminster debate is a chance for us to continue to make our case.”
I have written to several of the Cheshire MPs, including the MP for Congleton where Jodrell Bank sits, about Jodrell and the cuts more broadly and have been assured of their support.
I urge others to write to their MPs.
