Geek the Vote Guest Post: Tara Saville

Tara is the Lib Dem PPC for Easington in County Durham. She holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and currently works as the Head of Science at St Johns school in Bishop Auckland.

At a time when David Cameron has threatened severe cutbacks in the North East, Tara and the Lib Dems have pledged to ensure the North East gets more help through the recession.

On science and science education, Tara writes:

Science funding and science education are essential policy concerns for any party that bases its philosophy on enlighted, informed decision making, such as the Liberal Democrats. However in these hard-nosed times, lofty ideals may not be sufficently persuasive reasons for government investment in science.

There’s another reason the Lib Dems are right to protect science funding and to champion high quality science education in our schools. It’s the economy. Government investment in science is only about 4% of the amount of GDP generated by science, if the financial sector made returns like that it might be worth putting more money into bailing out the banks!

Furthermore, if Britons are to compete in the global marketplace for good, high-tech jobs, they need to be scientifically literate. It’s this commitment to the science and technology we need to maintain a free and prosperous society that makes me proud to be a Lib Dem.