The result
As readers will be aware, the UK General Election on Thursday 4 July 2024 saw Labour win a landslide majority of 181 seats. It did so despite the party’s vote share barely increasing since the 2019 election, taking 64% of the seats on just 34% of the vote (a 1997-level landslide with a 1992-level vote share). Overall turnout fell to just under 60%, its lowest level since 2001 and the second-lowest ever in modern history.
In the Cabinet appointments which followed, Peter Kyle became the new Secretary of State for Science, Innovation & Technology, but a far more surprising appointment was Sir Patrick Vallance entering politics to become a Minister for Science within DSIT. A similar situation occurred within the Department for Education in England, where Bridget Phillipson continued to hold the Education brief which she had fulfilled in opposition, but beneath her was a surprise appointment of New Labour veteran Jacqui Smith to become Minister for Skills, Further & Higher Education.
A full briefing on the election result and Cabinet appointments is available on request.
What the result means for Higher Education
The King’s Speech contained 40 bills in total, but relatively little of immediate interest to higher education. The closest proposal is for a Skills England Bill, to set up a new body which will work with England’s mayoral combined authorities and with business, providers, unions, and UK Government on post-compulsory education. It may well use as its model Wales’ new commission for tertiary education (which itself formally came into being this month – see “other news in brief”, below), and the skills agenda more generally will be aligned to Labour’s broader vision for further devolution within England, which itself is the subject of a new bill.
Absent from the initial set of legislative proposals was anything on easing the funding gap for England’s universities, with the Education Secretary for England telling Radio 4: “We have no plans in that space because we want to make sure we are putting universities on a more sustainable footing overall”. She did hint, however, at loosening restrictions on international students to help ameliorate pressures.
What the result means for Research & Development
Labour’s key lines on research and innovation have centred on the promises of a new industrial strategy and on a shift to ten-year budgets to provide greater certainty for researchers.
On the former point, the King’s Speech pledged that the government will establish an Industrial Strategy Council to deliver rising living standards in all nations and regions in the UK. The new body is likely to oversee the implementation of bills on AI and tech, with the government also seeking to establish legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful AI models.
On the latter point about ten-year budgets, eagle-eyed readers will note that there is no commitment to budgets increasing during that period. Further detail is awaited, but it has already been confirmed that short funding cycles will be scrapped for key research and development (R&D) institutions. Meanwhile, six areas have been identified for 10-year budgets: aerospace, artificial intelligence, automotive, defence, energy and life sciences.
Other news in brief
- Turbulence in Wales: Amidst the forced resignation of Vaughan Gething as First Minister (about which our Fellow, Richard Wyn Jones, wrote an insightful Guardian piece), you might have been forgiven for missing another important Welsh news story. At the start of this month, the former Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) was replaced by a new regulator for all post-16 education and research, the Commission for Tertiary Education in Wales / MEDR. Shortly before the change, HEFCW released a critical report about the Welsh HE and research landscape, highlighting that the continuing fall in levels of public funding for HE are causing concern about the sector’s ability to sustain its current business models.
- New appointments: Within a few days of Labour’s election win, Lord Wharton resigned as chair of the Office for Students in England, six months before his term of office was due to end. He has now been replaced by David Behan as interim chair, with the new UK Government also pausing the previous administration’s controversial plans for legislation on freedom of speech on campuses. Elsewhere, the British Academy announced that Professor Susan Smith will become their next President from July 2025 for a four-year term.
- OfSE improvement notices: In late July, the Office for Students in England issued five improvement notices. Courses at Arden University, the University of Cumbria, Leeds Beckett University, London Metropolitan University, and Richmond, the American International University in London were all highlighted. Times Higher has a full write-up of the key points (£).