That's not a UK thing though - all STEM salaries in the EU are lower than their counterparts in the USA. I don't think this points to an anti-STEM culture speci

That's not a UK thing though - all STEM salaries in the EU are lower than their counterparts in the USA. I don't think this points to an anti-STEM culture specific to the UK. But that is kind of beside the point - you said they're socially looked down upon. Maybe I derailed it by anticipating you were meaning salaries ... but it sounds like you believe there's some overall anti-STEM sentiment and I honestly cannot think of a time I saw anything like this. I haven't heard of the idea that the UK is a place to get good cheap engineers. I have heard of Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and India talked about this way but never the UK. Good maybe, but certainly not cheap.