Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Chair Cllr Louise Gittins and Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, asking him to pause proposed changes to the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and work together to understand their impact.
Proposed budget cuts could impact the iconic Jodrell Bank site near Holmes Chapel, as well as Daresbury Laboratory in Halton.
The full letter to the Prime Minister:
To: The Prime Minister 11 September 2026
Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP
Dear Prime Minister,
The North West is home to some of Britain’s most important scientific institutions, supporting world-leading research, thousands of highly skilled jobs and technologies that have an impact across the globe. We cannot afford to put that success at risk.
That is why we are coming together as the Mayor of Liverpool City Region and Chair of the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority to urge the government to pause the proposed STFC changes and work with us to fully understand their impact before decisions are taken that could be difficult to reverse.
Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram and Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Chair, Cllr Louise Gittins
There has rightly been significant concern about what the proposals could mean for Jodrell Bank and the Lovell Telescope, and we welcome your commitment to find a way to save them. But the neighbouring Daresbury Laboratory continues to face closure, which would have major negative consequences for the wider North West science and innovation ecosystem.
Daresbury is not a run of the mill research facility. It is one of the UK’s two primary research and innovation campuses, UKRI’s northern headquarters and home to world-leading expertise in particle accelerator science, high-performance computing and AI.
Its scientists, researchers and technicians are helping to develop technology for the Large Hadron Collider, test high-energy radiotherapy techniques with the potential to improve cancer treatment, and provide advanced computing expertise that helps British businesses to innovate and grow.
These are highly specialised capabilities, built up over decades. The uncertainty over the future risks the loss of the very people who make them possible. Once that expertise leaves, it cannot just be switched back on when circumstances improve.
We know the government shares our ambition to grow the economy, improve productivity and ensure that every part of the country can fulfil its potential. The North West’s science and innovation strengths can make an enormous contribution to those ambitions.
That is why we believe these proposals deserve another look.
Our region already receives a relatively small share of public research and development investment compared with the size of our economy, the strength of our universities and industries, and the enormous potential we have to contribute more to national growth.
Jodrell Bank and Daresbury are part of a wider North West science and innovation ecosystem that attracts private investment, connects world-class universities with global businesses and creates opportunities stretching from apprenticeships to doctoral research.
We should be working together to strengthen that ecosystem and unlock even more of its potential.
Decisions of this magnitude cannot be viewed simply through the lens of short-term savings. Their wider consequences for jobs, investment, skills and Britain’s ability to compete internationally need to be properly understood too.
We are therefore asking government to pause the proposed STFC changes and undertake a thorough assessment of their economic and regional impact, with meaningful input from the places and organisations affected.
We want to work constructively with government, UKRI and STFC to find a sustainable way forward. But that conversation needs to happen before expertise is lost, confidence is damaged or decisions are taken that cannot easily be undone.
Britain’s science and innovation base is one of our greatest competitive advantages. The North West stands ready to play an even bigger role in it – and we want to work with government to make sure that opportunity is seized.
Yours sincerely,
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region
Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority