Boris Johnson has promised to double research and development spending to £18 billion within five years in a “new wave of economic growth” after Brexit

Ministers are preparing to develop two cutting-edge scientific research bodies in the Midlands and north of England after Boris Johnson’s promise to “level up” investment outside the southeast.

Downing Street is said to be determined that an £800 million “advanced research projects agency” will be based outside the golden triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge. It also wants to set up a centre of scientific excellence, modelled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the north.

Mr Johnson has promised to double research and development spending to £18 billion within five years in a “new wave of economic growth” after Brexit. A government source said: “The will is there to ensure that we think beyond Oxford, Cambridge and London when we site these new bodies.”