Why Labour's axing of £800m Edinburgh supercomputer is huge blow even Nasa will notice

Amidst all the bad news, cutbacks, and cancelled investments by a Labour government coming to grips with the challenge they face, there was one which struck me as having a significance way beyond the weight given to its announcement.

Shelving a planned £1.3 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and technology may not seem as immediately important as withdrawing winter fuel payments for many pensioners or maintaining the two-child cap on benefits. But long-term, it could prove to be a significant backward step in our recovery.

One of its victims – a major investment of £800 million in an ‘exascale’ supercomputer at Edinburgh University – undermines so much work being done to advance our health, economic and academic well-being. It's not just that the exascale is 50 times faster than existing computers but the potential it had to support research in AI, drug discovery, climate change, astrophysics and advanced engineering.

Edinburgh University has already spent £31 million in housing the computer, installation of which was due to start in 2025. But those cold facts do not adequately convey the potential which its withdrawal denies our future.

During the general election, I visited the Bayes Centre, the university's innovation hub, where much of its technological and scientific research is based. To say, I was impressed with what I saw there would be a huge understatement. I came away convinced that Edinburgh University will be at the forefront of those advances we need to propel our NHS and its effectiveness back to recognition as the world's best.

On top of that, I had just returned from the US where academics at the world-leading universities – Stanford, NYU, Columbia – and specialists at Nasa had waxed lyrical about Edinburgh's heritage and potential in science and space technology. It is difficult not to worry that all of that has now been undermined. And not just for the institution but for all of us.

If we are to recover from the economic and social mess created by the last Conservative government, we need to support our high-tech sector. Not just because it creates so many good jobs across the UK, but because it will be central to future development.

That, in turn, is why we need to be at the forefront of AI in areas such as negotiating the UK’s participation in the Trade and Technology Council with the US and the EU, so we can play a leading role in global regulation. Labour need to recognise that shelving Edinburgh's and other plans could make our involvement less likely and our influence less significant.

We cannot allow ourselves to fall behind those nations already forging ahead with AI and technological research. Edinburgh University has long been able to boast its role as trailblazer with achievements like Dolly the sheep and Professor Peter Higgs’ accurate prediction of the existence of the Higgs boson. Then there is its more recent contribution to the James Webb Space telescope.

The Labour government mustn't let short-sightedness over the value of our sciences prove a backward move. They must continue to invest in our future.

Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West