A Conservative former minister has branded Labour’s collapse of a £450million vaccine plant deal as a “terrible failure of negotiation” by the Government.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca axed the investment in Merseyside because Labour failed to match the previous government’s offer of support.
Kit Malthouse said the situation “is obviously a terrible failure of negotiation” from the Government.
The Tory MP for North West Hampshire said: “This is a terrible blow, not just for Speke and for Liverpool, the city of my birth, but also for our vaccination development environment generally.
“The lack of this production facility means there won’t be a pull for vaccination development in the UK and the various technologies that come with it.
Science minister Sir Chris Bryant said the planned investment deal between the Government and AstraZeneca is not going ahead because it did not “add up for the UK taxpayer”.
He told MPs the Government feels “regretful” about the plan being ditched and “would prefer to have got this over the line”.
The decision reverses an announcement made by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt at last year’s March Budget that would have meant the pharmaceutical company expanding its existing facility in Speke.
Sir Chris told the Commons on Monday that the Government made a “significant offer” to AstraZeneca which came “remarkably close” to the £90million offered by the previous administration.
Sir Chris said he wanted to make it “absolutely clear that AstraZeneca is not leaving”.
He said: “There are not people losing their jobs because of this decision.”
Confirming the reversal on Friday, a spokesman for AstraZeneca said: “Several factors have influenced this decision, including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government’s proposal.”
