Abstract:

I will describe the recent history and context for UK science funding including the threat of major cuts that followed the election of a new government in 2010. I’ll explain how we made the case for continued support of basic research in high energy and nuclear physics in the face of strong pressures for deficit reduction, which led to a reasonably good outcome of flat funding for the next four years. I’ll describe the program and priorities for fundamental physics in the UK which this budget will support for the period 2011-15. Finally, I will attempt to draw some lessons from this experience for the US community as it faces similar pressures.