> the council’s leaders said it was aiming to reduce its overall spending by £162 million by the end of the decade, including a £38 million reduction for facilities and labs.

Especially maddening considering how small the target savings are in the grand scheme of government spending...

Basically the core of the issue is that the UK govermnent yearly expenditures on various facilities like 'Diamond source' synchrotron, payment for the CERN membership etc are higher due to inflation, exchange rates, electricity costs, and the STFC/UKRI's answer to this is to cut the grants for researchers by 30%. A particularly idiotic solution given that many people from US are looking for other places. Also what's the point of having facilities without people to use them.