As Matthew says, an article about Cummings and government science policy that is well worth a read.
Cummings appears to believe that EU rules - he must here mean procurement and State aid rules - stop the UK developing the type of support for science that he wants.
Worth noting that this is far from a traditional right-wing free market position (keep government out).
Indeed, the view that government support is a key element of scientific success is one that he shares (if not much else) with @MazzucatoM and others usually seen as being on the left.
The difficulty with his position in my view is, first, that evidence that State aid and procurement rules inherently stop the UK from investing enough in, or in the right kind of, science is distinctly thin.
Indeed, you can hear @MazzucatoM dismiss that view in relation to State aid here. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
Secondly, his gripe seems not to be so much with the specific rules and procedures mandated by EU rules (many of which can be flexed) but the very existence of rules and procedures. Nothing should interfere with swift decision-making by politicians and their brilliant advisers.
But the dangers of that are obvious: decisions driven by whom the politician last had lunch with, or happens to be attracted to; or whose article the brilliant adviser last read.
We rightly demand high standards of decision-making, fairness, and accountability in the spending of large amounts of public money. And as any lawyer can tell you, poor decision-making procedures lead to poor decisions, as well as lack of confidence in the system.
The problem with Cummings’ approach is that, though it starts with sometimes understandable frustration with procedure, in the end it is inconsistent with good government.
