Lack of maths funding will hinder UK’s scientific progress

‘Maths enables scientific and technological developments, it is key to our national security and contributes billions of pounds to GDP.’ Photograph: Alamy

The aim of making the UK a “science superpower” is welcome, but the deficiencies in the government’s strategy highlighted in a Lords report are only the start (‘Science superpower’ plan risks making UK bureaucracy superpower, says peer, 4 August).

Lord Krebs compared the amount of bureaucracy involved to “setting off on a marathon with your shoelaces tied together”. However, the report barely mentions mathematics, the bedrock of all the sciences. Without a greater focus on the mathematical sciences, the nation is in danger of setting off on a marathon without any footwear.