Mims Davies MP welcomes £360million to boost British manufacturing and R&D.
Mims is thrilled the Chancellor has today announced a significant investment package in the UK’s life sciences and manufacturing sectors.
Ahead of the Spring Budget this week, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has today (Monday 4 March) announced a significant investment package in the UK’s life sciences and manufacturing sectors, as part of the government’s plan to grow the economy, boost health resilience and support jobs across the UK.
The funding will go towards several companies and projects who are making cutting edge technology in sectors key to economic growth and part of wider government support to ensure the UK is the best place to start, grow and invest in manufacturing.
This includes £7.5 million to support two pharmaceutical companies who are investing a combined £84 million to expand their manufacturing plants in the UK. Almac, a pharmaceutical company in Northern Ireland produces drugs to treat diseases such as cancer, heart disease and depression, while Ortho Clinical diagnostics in Pencoed, Wales, is expanding its facilities producing testing products used to identify a variety of diseases and conditions.
These new life sciences investments are the latest step in the government’s plan to grow our economy, encourage innovation and support levelling up with nearly 300 supported jobs across the UK.
The Chancellor is also confirming that companies will soon be able to apply for a share of the £520 million funding for life sciences manufacturing announced at Autumn Statement, with competitions for large scale investments opening for expressions of interest this summer and medium and smaller sized companies in the autumn. The fund is designed to build resilience for future health emergencies such as influenza pandemics and capitalise on the UK’s world-leading research and development.
On top of this, the government has announced almost £73 million in combined government and industry investment for cutting-edge automotive R&D projects to support the development of electric vehicle technology, delivering highly skilled jobs and cementing the UK’s position as a global hub for EV manufacturing.
Mims Davies MP said:
"I very much welcome the Chancellor's announcement today of a significant investment package in the UK’s life sciences and manufacturing sectors of £360million to boost British manufacturing and R&D.
The UK’s £108 billion life sciences sector is driven by the pioneering contributions of over 300,000 highly-skilled individuals who transform lives through ground breaking advancements in drug discovery and diagnostics.
As part of the investments announced today, almost £200 million of joint government and industry funding is also going to aerospace R&D projects, supporting the development of energy efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technology and accelerating the transition to net zero aviation.
This is on top of the confirmation today that the £975 million in aerospace funding over 5 years from 2025, announced at Autumn Statement, will be allocated to the ATI programme."
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said:
“We’re sticking with our plan by backing the industries of the future with millions of pounds of investment to make the UK a world leader in manufacturing, securing the highly-skilled jobs of the future and delivering the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future for Britain”.