Science in Parliament
In the 2017 UK Parliament 83% of the Members had degrees. 17% of MPs had STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) degrees which is 20% of those with degrees. STEM subjects are taken by 46% of graduates. There are fewer than half the number of STEM graduates than might have been expected.
This graph, that uses 2014 figures, shows the distribution of degrees held by MPs.
Little has changed since 2014.
Of the 26 members of Keir Starmer’s current (2024) Cabinet one has a degree in chemistry and one has a degree in human bioscience (7.5% of total). One, Angela Rayner, has no degree.
In the 21st century most of the problems that confront government involve technical issues and may have technical solutions.
It might be believed that the people in Parliament and Cabinet can still make good technical decisions by balancing the input from ‘experts’. There are two problems with this.
The first problem is that the non-STEM MPs have no immediate sense of systems or proportions. They have not studied mathematics since they were 16 years old. They have not studied the scientific method or statistics. Put simply, they do not know how anything works.
The second problem is that they do not know how to select and handle ‘experts’. Experts usually have careers and either work or consult for interested parties. They impress MPs with their ‘expertise’ but the MPs are unaware of the hidden bias that the experts are implanting in their advice. When conscientious engineers talk to an expert on an engineering problem they will study the area being discussed and have a broad understanding. They will spot where the ‘expert’ is selling solutions that favour the expert’s associates and will ask for a broader view if necessary. MPs will probably not even be aware that there is a broader view. MPs don’t even know what they don’t know so are unable to ask the experts what they should know.
The lack of STEM expertise in government puts the country at risk from expensive technological mistakes. When the Cabinet are confronted by an AI salesman like Tony Blair they may waste billions of hard earned taxpayer’s money because they do not realize that alternative solutions and technologies are available.
We should ask why people with STEM degrees are eliminated from selection for government. The answer is that they have a tendency to base decisions on data and truth. This is seldom socially acceptable. As the postmarxist humanities graduate would say ‘we all have our own truth’.