‘Several factors have influenced this decision including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government’s proposal’
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has scrapped its £450m vaccine manufacturing plant project in Merseyside, blaming Labour for not offering the support to match that made by the previous government.
The move is a sharp U-turn from the plans publicised by former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt during last year’s March budget, where expansion of the existing Speke facility was set to elevate the UK’s life sciences sector and bolster public health protection and pandemic response.
An AstraZeneca spokesperson said on Friday: “Following discussions with the current Government, we are no longer pursuing our planned investment in Speke. Several factors have influenced this decision including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government’s proposal.”
While the current Speke site will remain operational and jobs are reportedly secure, this development is an unwelcome hit to the Government amid efforts by the Chancellor to promote economic growth and present Britain as a prime spot for global investors. It also follows warnings by former health secretary Matt Hancock that the UK needed to improve its own vaccine manufacturing capability as a “critical” part of preparing for a future pandemic.
Mr Hancock informed the Covid Inquiry in early January that the UK’s vaccine manufacturing capacity was “weak”, and stressed: “having that manufacture and fill and finish onshore, physically within the UK, is critical in the way that it simply isn’t in normal times”.
The Treasury has been reached out to for comment.
