What’s going on in the UK: 5-18 May

This week: the Queen’s speech, gene editing, UKRI culture change and more

Queen’s speech

The government has promised to encourage agricultural and scientific innovation in the UK, in a Queen’s speech that was otherwise light on details for R&D. Setting out the government’s plans for 2022-23 on behalf of the Queen, Prince Charles said the government would “encourage agricultural and scientific innovation at home”, and “deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner and more secure energy”. The absence of science in the 2022 speech is reminiscent of pre-2017 speeches, where Hansard records going back to 1994 show that most speeches contained no specific references to science.