UK aiming to expand its science and technology sector

Post-Brexit Britain should have a "vibrant", world-leading science and technology sector, the United Kingdom's prime minister said as he launched a new fund aimed at helping companies commercialize medical breakthroughs.

Boris Johnson said the fund will contain 200 million pounds ($245 million) of government money and 400 million pounds from the private sector. The money will be available to researchers who have great ideas and who might otherwise take them overseas.

"Today, I am changing that," Johnson said while unveiling the program. "I want the lifesaving cancer treatments of tomorrow to say 'discovered and made in Britain'."

The fund is the latest in a spate of initiatives announced during the first few weeks of the Johnson government that are aimed at boosting the science and technology sector.

However, critics say they would not offset the damage of a no-deal exit from the European Union.

Other Conservative governments in recent years have also championed science, pledging and additional 7 billion pounds since 2010 above the previous levels of science spending.

Former chancellor Philip Hammond pushed the envelope even further when he set a target of tripling government science spending, meaning public and private spending on research would increase from 1.7 percent of GDP to 2.4 percent by 2027.

Professor James Wilsdon of Sheffield University told the BBC it looks as if Johnson wants to build on the pro-science platforms of previous Conservative governments.

"The mood music and what has come out of the Johnson government on the science base is, if anything, more enthusiastic than it was from the May and Cameron governments," he told the broadcaster.

The UK is also understood to want to unshackle the sector from bureaucracy, return to a system in which universities and researchers are funded directly by government, and ensure talented young scientists and their families are guaranteed UK work visas.

British Chancellor Sajid Javid, meanwhile, has claimed the ruling Conservative Party is also the champion of ordinary workers – a claim more usually made by the Labour Party.

Javid said at the Conservative Party's annual conference that his party will boost the nation's minimum wage to beyond those of other developed economies, ensuring it grows to become two-thirds of median earnings by April 2024.The change would take the minimum wage from the current 8.21 pounds an hour to around 10.50.

Javid did not say how much the proposal would cost businesses, or what it would add to the public-sector pay bill.

Business groups said companies will need time to adjust to such a large raise and noted that the move might not help the economy.

Adam Marshall, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, told the Financial Times: "Companies already face significant cumulative employment costs … so government must take action to alleviate the heavy cost-burden facing firms, or risk denting productivity and competitiveness."

And Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, added that the only sustainable way to increase incomes lies in improving Britain's poor productivity growth.