In an interview with the Guardian's Life section, industry minister Lord Sainsbury insists that the government takes science "very seriously".

His key issue at the moment, he says, is knowledge transfer - taking academic breakthroughs into the commercial sector.

The peer reaffirms his commitment to animal experimentation and GM food.

Setting out his political beliefs, he says it is possible to be an entrepreneur and a socialist as the market economy can have a sense of social justice.

"Industry doesn't operate in a vacuum," he argues.

He claims Labour's battles with the hard left are finished: "Most of the big battles have been won and the intellectual debate in the party is over."