As many European countries adopt austerity measures, lawmakers have chipped away at science budgets. Despite concerns that the UK science budget would be substantially cut as part of a comprehensive spending review, the government announced on 20 October that the budget will be frozen in cash terms. This means that the total science budget will stay at around £4.6 billion ($7.3 billion) a year until the 2014–2015 fiscal year, although it is likely to fall by around 10% in real terms over that period as a result of anticipated inflation.

The news was even better for biomedical research: the UK Medical Research Council's annual budget, which is currently just over £700 million, will be maintained and adjusted for any inflation, and the UK Department of Health's annual research spending will increase by over 10% to £1.1 billion by that time. In addition, £220 million of capital funding from the Department of Health will be earmarked for building the proposed UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation.

The budget decision “demonstrates that the government understands the importance of research and innovation in securing the UK's economic recovery,” Nigel Gaymond, chief executive of the UK BioIndustry Association, said in a statement.

The spending review was instigated by the Conservative-Liberal coalition government to determine how it will achieve its previously announced goal of reducing annual government spending by £83 billion over the next four years.

Most government departments were warned to expect budget cuts of around 25%, including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which is responsible for the science budget. So scientists braced for major cuts in their funding.

This fear was further stoked by a speech given by Vince Cable, the business secretary, in September, in which he said his preference was to refocus research spending on those areas of science where the UK is a 'world leader'. He identified stem cells and regenerative medicine as two areas where British research is world class.

A number of British scientists and scientific bodies warned about the damaging effects that major cuts would have on the UK science base and the UK economy in general. It now seems that these warnings were heeded.

At the beginning of October, Spain also announced it would freeze its science budget for 2011, which at €5.3 billion ($7.4 billion) will be about the same as it was this year. However, the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies claimed that, when also including the research activities in various government ministries, research spending would actually fall by over 8%. Meanwhile, in France, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Ministry of Justice were the only two spared in deficit-reduction measures announced as part of the 2011 budget.