University leader warns that vital cancer and climate research could be at risk from no-deal Brexit

Scientists and academics at Manchester University are worried about the effect a no deal Brexit would have on vital research.

They believe that revolutionary cancer treatments and anti-climate change technology are among UK-led research that would be "compromised" by a no-deal Brexit,

Groups representing more than 150 higher education centres across the UK have written to MPs warning that leaving the EU without a deal could lead to "an academic, cultural and scientific setback from which it would take decades to recover".

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, said: "(The university's) vital and transformative research programmes risk being disrupted, such as our work on proton-beam therapy for cancer patients, which allows more precise targeting of tumour sites and minimises damage to surrounding tissue, and our Nobel-prize winning work on graphene, the strongest, thinnest and most versatile material ever identified."