Cable begs for protection

Vince Cable is announcing to Metro that “We do not want to make such deep cuts to transport, energy, science research and universities.” Really? According to whom? The science budget, which has shot from £1.3bn to an indefensible £3.7bn, is a prime example of a cost that should not be borne by the taxpayer. Scientists are best left to get on with this themselves, and companies are more than capable of funding research. On energy, again, there are many expensive vanity projects just begging for the axe.

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Ross Clark

Britain is living beyond its means

Given that Cable is in charge of the universities brief – the most important part of his otherwise non-job – you can expect him to want to protect it from cuts. But to lobby openly like this is not something that Theresa May or Liam Fox would do. Cable had best behave himself.