The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
SNP says Tories ‘short-changed’ universities
Claims millions of pounds cut from grants after cash boost during 2014’s referendum
The SNP has accused Tory ministers of selling Tayside and Fife universities short after pumping them with cash during the independence campaign.
Millions of pounds have been cut from UK grants to Dundee and St Andrews since 2014, according to figures from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. At St Andrews, support from the EPSRC grant fell from £15.3m in 2013/14 to £9.0m in 2016/17.
Dundee University saw its grant drop from £3.7m to £2.8m over the same period. The trend was similar across the North East.
Kirsty Blackman, the SNP MP, said the figures reveal “just how hard Tory cuts are hitting our universities”.
“While they were happy to announce more and more cash into Scottish universities in 2014 for PR purposes to save the Union, they’re now happy to sell us short by millions,” she said.
An EPSRC spokesman insisted funds were not allocated by the Government.
He said: “Research grant funding is awarded on a competitive basis, using independent expert peer review, and the pattern of our expenditure is based on this outcome.”
A Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesman said: “The UK Government has pledged a further £4.7bn to 2021 for science and research at universities across the UK.”
A spokesman for St Andrews said: “We currently have over £50m of active grants from the EPSRC and despite the fact we don’t do engineering, are one of the top 25 universities in the UK for grants from this research council.
“Research grants are under pressure in the current environment, but it is generally accepted that with large grants typically awarded over several years, it can be misleading to read too much into year on year performance,” they added.