Creativity is the engine that drives the economy and Leeds has a rich history of innovation, especially in technology and science. We should attract more investment into the UK and invest wisely from pension funds to support greater innovation here, especially in the SMEs, which are the lifeblood of our economy.

My background is in healthcare and I’m optimistic about the ingenuity and ability of our doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs to develop new treatments and cures for diseases like cancer and MND. If selected as your MP, I’d support the entire pathway to success from boosting the number of children studying STEM subjects to providing the right tax incentives for small companies. 

The Conservatives are committed to accelerating the progress we’ve made in R&D and innovation in the UK by:

• Increasing public spending on R&D to £22 billion a year, up from £20 billion this year.

• Delivering our advanced Manufacturing Plan, providing a £4.5 billion commitment to secure strategic manufacturing sectors including automotive, aerospace, life sciences and clean energy.

• Investing over £1.5 billion in large-scale compute clusters, assembling the raw processing power so we can take advantage of the potential of AI and support research into its safe and responsible use.