Scientists urge no to Brexit

LONDON — First it was statesmen, then soldiers, and finally CEOs. Now a group of scientists has urged U.K. voters to remain in the European Union, warning Saturday that Britain will lose funding, global influence and access to expertise if the nation votes to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Thirteen Nobel laureates wrote an open letter to the Daily Telegraph, arguing that the prospect of losing EU research funding was a key risk to science.

They argued that the notion that Britain’s Treasury can make up for any funding shortfall as “naive and complacent,” given that successive governments have allowed support for research to languish.

“We may be an island, but we cannot be an island in science,” they wrote. “Being part of the EU is good for British science and that is good for Britain.”

The signatories included Peter Higgs, who won the prize for predicting the existence of the so-called Higgs boson. Physics laureate Kostya Novoselov, who pioneered the use of graphene, and geneticist Paul Nurse also signed.

The letter is another in a cavalcade of interests who have expressed concern surrounding the upheaval that would follow should Britain vote to leave in the June 23 referendum.

The appeals have been bolstered by warnings of economic turmoil from the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Bank of England.

So dominant have been the voices of the Establishment in favour of the “Remain” camp that the promoters of a British exit or Brexit have dubbed their opponents “Project Fear.”

On Saturday, inventor James Dyson backed the “Leave” campaign, saying that doing business on the continent persuaded him that the EU powers “protect vested interests.”