Two new Frontier Brexit bulletins explore access to EU funding for infrastructure and research

Two new Frontier Brexit bulletins explore access to EU funding for infrastructure and research

As the bill authorising Theresa May to invoke Article 50 makes its way through the UK’s Houses of Parliament, Frontier (Europe)’s two latest bulletins in its post-referendum series consider the impact that leaving the European Union (EU) could have on access to sources of finance for investment in infrastructure and university research.

At the moment, some of the UK’s contributions to the EU budget are returned through various programmes and instruments that support European policy objectives. The bulletins explore issues for policymakers including:

  • What access, if any, can the UK expect to have from these sources after leaving the EU?
  • What transition arrangements will be made to protect investment over the period of departure?
  • How should domestic policy be developed to compensate if these funds dry up post-Brexit?

In Work for the Plumber, we provide an overview of where, why and how EU funding for infrastructure investment is currently coming to the UK, and on what scale. We focus in particular on the role that the European Investment Bank – the world’s largest multilateral financing institution – plays in financing infrastructure projects and examine what Brexit could mean for this at a time when the UK government has identified infrastructure as a priority.

In Plugging the gap, we examine the extent to which UK Higher Education Institutions benefit from EU research funds, and whether a boost to research funding from the UK government might make up for any shortfall after Brexit. We also examine the role played by international collaboration in the quality of research and whether this could be affected by Brexit. These are crucial questions given the role that Britain’s international reputation for a strong science base plays in attracting research-heavy businesses to locate here, and in the light of the recent Industrial Strategy Green Paper.

Frontier Economics regularly analyses the role of infrastructure and innovation as drivers of growth for private and public sector clients.

For more information, please contact media@frontier-economics.com or call +44 (0) 20 7031 7000