Johnson pledges to double R&D as part of a ‘Green Revolution’

Boris Johnson has unveiled plans to ramp up research and development funding alongside a series of green energy spending pledges designed to woo voters.

The Prime Minister said he wants to double taxpayerfunded research and development contributions to £18 billion by 2024-25, with an intention to help advanced maths research, nuclear fusion, health work and a national space strategy.

The Tories claimed this package would replace all EU research and development funding post-brexit.

The party’s green energy pledges also included increasing offshore wind capacity by 2030 – and exploring the possibility of floating wind turbines – plus ensuring motorists in England and Wales are within 30 miles of an electric vehicle charge point.

A further £800 million was outlined for establishing carbon capture and storage (CCS) clusters, with an aim for the first plant to be operational by the mid-2020s.

In2015,davidcameron’scoalition government scrapped a £1bn CCS fund – a competition that aimed to develop technology to limit pollution from power stations. A site at Peterhead was earmarked to pilot the technology.

Details of exactly how each project would be funded were not fully provided alongside the pledges.

They also outlined a £1.8bn programme to improve the condition of further education buildings over a five-year period.

Speaking at an electric vehicles factory in the West Midlands, Mr Johnson said: “We will double funding for research and development to £18bn in the next Parliament, the biggest ever increase in support for R&D.

“We proudly back businesses across this country because they are creating the wealth that actually pays for the NHS and everything else.

“They are helping to create the jobs.”

Before his speech, Mr Johnson was given a tour of the production line during his visit to the London Electric Vehicle Company in Coventry

It concluded with him taking the driving seat in an electric taxi. The Prime Minister then drove the electric black cab which had a “Boris 10” number plate on the dashboard a short distance and said “here we go” before pulling to a stop.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-bailey said: “If Boris Johnson is so keen on a ‘green industrial revolution’, why didn’t he announce one? Labour is rolling out policy after policy, but we’ve seen nothing from Boris Johnson.”