Quitting EU would harm British science, says Royal Society's next president

Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan warns Brexit would lead to cut in research funding and fall in collaborations

Leaving the European Union would be detrimental to British science, hitting research funding and cutting the UK off from a pool of talented scientists and world-class facilities, the incoming president of the Royal Society has told the Guardian.

In his first interview since his election was confirmed in March, Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan weighed into the increasingly heated debate over EU membership, warning withdrawal would "really narrow down our science".