Connect with us

Published

on

The UK will rejoin the European Union’s flagship Horizon science programme after two years of absence post-Brexit, the government has confirmed.

Number 10 said the move would happen “through a bespoke new agreement with the EU”.

A spokesperson added Prime Minister Rishi Sunak secured “improved financial terms of association that are right for the UK and protect the taxpayer”.

Read more: PM heads to India for G20 summit – politics latest

Mr Sunak said: “We have worked with our EU partners to make sure that this is right deal for the UK, unlocking unparalleled research opportunities, and also the right deal for British taxpayers.”

Scientists called the announcement “tremendous news”.

Horizon is a collaboration involving Europe’s leading research institutes and technology companies which sees EU member states contribute funds that are then allocated to individuals or organisations on merit.

More from Politics

The UK was negotiating a deal to remain in the €95.5bn programme, but talks stalled over Brexit-related disagreements such as Northern Ireland.

In the two years since the UK was removed, Downing Street has stepped in to match EU grant money lost.

However, scientists warned that UK researchers have been missing out on collaboration with colleagues in Europe.

Professor Paul Stewart, from the Academy of Medical Sciences said the return “marks a pivotal moment for UK science”.

“After a hiatus, the scientific community is celebrating the tremendous news that we are once more part of the EU’s flagship funding programme,” he said.

“Health research is an international endeavour, it relies on supporting the best ideas, but also on creating cross-border networks which is good news for the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.

“Association sends a very strong message that the UK is open for business and remains a prime destination to work on health research and innovation to improve lives.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Donelan: Horizon ‘great deal for taxpayers’

Read more:
Scientists ‘concerned’ at PM’s silence over rejoining EU’s €95.5bn Horizon programme
UK at risk of ‘brain drain’ as scientists leave Britain

The government said UK researchers can apply for grants and bid to take part in projects under the Horizon programme from today.

As well as Horizon the UK will join the EU’s space programme, Copernicus, but it will not take part in the bloc’s nuclear technology scheme, Euratom.

Deal ‘not mission creep back into EU’

The breakthrough comes after months of talks between London and Brussels.

It had been hoped that a British return to Horizon would follow in the wake of the Windsor Framework deal, agreed in February and designed to address concerns over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland.

Whitehall sources said in July a draft deal was with the prime minister – but Downing Street said a UK-based alternative known as Pioneer also remained an option because Mr Sunak was concerned about “value for money”.

Michelle Donelan, the secretary of state for science, denied the move was “mission creep back into the EU”.

She told Sky News: “This is fantastic news, not just for British scientists and researchers but also the British taxpayer.

“What we’re announcing today is a great deal, a deal that many said we won’t be able to get.”

Under the terms of the deal, the UK will not need to pay into the scheme for the two years it was absent with costs under the programme beginning again in January 2024.

The government also pointed to the inclusion of a so-called “clawback” mechanism, which will mean that the UK will be compensated if British scientists receive significantly less money than the UK puts into the programme.

Ms Donelan said the deal also includes an overperformance indicator, which means the UK won’t be penalised for overperforming “so we can really back our British scientists to achieve”.

Newly-appointed shadow science secretary Peter Kyle told broadcasters that ministers now need to “get on with it”.

“What we’re missing out on is two years’ worth of innovation,” the Labour MP said.

“Two years of global companies looking around the world for where to base their research centres and choosing other countries than Britain, because we are not part of Horizon… This is two years of wasted opportunity for us as a country.”

Continue Reading

Business

Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Published

on

By

Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.

Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.

The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.

Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.

Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.

Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.

Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.

More on Adele

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.

It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.

“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.

“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”

Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.

The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.

Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.

Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

Continue Reading

Business

The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

Published

on

By

The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

The King’s personal fortune has shot up by £30m to put him on par with Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, while the overall number of billionaires in the UK has plummeted, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

The 2025 list, published on Friday, shows the King’s personal wealth grew from £610m to £640m, taking him up 20 places to 258 – level with former prime minister Mr Sunak and his wife.

The number of overall UK billionaires has fallen to 156 from 165 in 2024, marking the biggest drop since the rich list began 37 years ago.

Gopi Hinduja and his family, behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, topped the list for the fourth year running with £35.3bn.

Meanwhile, founder and chairman of global chemicals company Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who became part owner of Manchester United last year, dropped from fourth place to seventh after his reported wealth went from £23.5bn to £17.05bn.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Pic: PA.
Image:
Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Pic: PA.

Sir Jim’s £6.47bn losses marked the biggest on the list, while Russian-born brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, who built a fortune on mobile games such as Gardenscapes and Fishdom, made the biggest gains with nearly £6.2bn.

New entries included makeup mogul Charlotte Tilbury with £350m and Ellen DeGeneres, who left the US for the Cotswolds last year.

Ellen DeGeneres with wife Portia de Rossi at Wimbledon. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Ellen DeGeneres with wife Portia de Rossi at Wimbledon. Pic: Reuters

The Sunday Times said the list was one of its toughest to compile due to Donald Trump’s tariffs and the subsequent stock market turbulence, adding many from previous years had dropped off the list and others were no longer eligible having fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown.

Read more:
Steep rise in equity release – here are pros and cons
How British ‘geeks’ launched one of most lucrative gaming franchises of all time

Overall, the combined wealth of those on the list stood at £772.8bn – down 3% from the last list.

Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Rich List compiler Rob Watts highlighted the story of Tom and Phil Beahon, who own sportswear clothing brand Castore which is now worth £1bn, as one of his favourites.

The brothers from Wirral have debuted at joint 345 on the list with an estimated wealth of £350m.

Calling their story “inspiring”, Mr Watts said: “They dreamed of being sportsmen as lads – one of them got onto the books of Tranmere Rovers and the other played cricket for Lancashire, but their sporting careers were over in their early 20s.

“And they say that failure was critical to driving them to create this £1bn sports kit business that you’ll now see being worn by the England cricket team and the England rugby team.”

File photo dated 21-09-2024 of England's Olly Stone who has been ruled out for the majority of the summer after undergoing knee surgery. Issue date: Friday April 4, 2025. PA
Image:
England cricketer Olly Stone wearing a kit manufactured by Castore. Pic: PA

The top 20:

1. Gopi Hinduja and family – £35.3bn

2. David and Simon Reuben and family – £26.87bn

3. Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £25.73bn

4. Sir James Dyson and family – £20.8bn

5. Idan Ofer – £20.12bn

6. Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £17.75bn

7. Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £17.05bn

8. Lakshmi Mittal and family – £15.44bn

9. John Fredriksen and family – £13.68bn

10. Igor and Dmitry Bukhman – £12.54bn

11. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12.51bn

12. Michael Platt – £12.5bn

13. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £10.09bn

14. Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £9.88bn

15. Lord Bamford and family – £9.45bn

16. Denise, John and Peter Coates – £9.44bn

17. Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family – £9.3bn

18. Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £9.25bn

19. Marit, Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Rausing – £9.09bn

20. Alex Gerko – £8.75bn

Continue Reading

Business

Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase warns of up to $400m hit from cyber attack

Published

on

By

Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase warns of up to 0m hit from cyber attack

One of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges has suffered a cyber attack that could cost it $400m (£301m).

Hackers breached account data of a “small subset” of its customers and then tricked them into sending funds, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Coinbase received an email from an unknown threat actor on 11 May, claiming to have information about some customer accounts as well as internal documents.

Money blog: ‘Game-changing’ 100% mortgage launched

The hackers did not gain access to login credentials or passwords, but data including names, addresses and emails were stolen, Coinbase said.

The hackers had paid multiple employees and contractors working in support roles outside the US to collect the information. Everyone involved has been fired, it said.

Coinbase will reimburse all customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attackers – and estimates costs surrounding the hack will total between $180m (£135m) and $400m.

More on Cryptocurrencies

The exchange refused to pay a $20m (£15m) ransom to the hackers and is working with law enforcement agencies. It has also established a $20m reward for information on the attackers.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘Cybercrime costing world $9.2 trillion’

Coinbase is also opening a new US support hub and taking other measures to prevent cyber attacks, it said.

This development comes just days before Coinbase is set to join the S&P 500 index – in what is expected to be a landmark moment for crypto.

More from Sky News:
Co-op updates on cyber attack recovery
UK economy grows more than expected

Security remains a challenge for the industry and in February, Dubai-based Bybit disclosed a hack which saw around $1.5bn (£1.19bn) of digital tokens stolen – widely dubbed the biggest crypto heist of all time.

“As our nascent industry grows rapidly, it draws the eye of bad actors, who are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the scope of their attacks,” said Nick Jones, founder of crypto firm Zumo.

Continue Reading

Trending