Sir Ed Davey blames Trump for AstraZeneca move

Sir Ed Davey says President Trump's drive to encourage companies to invest in the US is a factor in AstraZeneca's decision to scrap expansion plans in Cambridge

The Liberal Democrat leader has attributed AstraZeneca's decision to halt further investment in Cambridge to President Donald Trump pressurising companies to move their businesses to the US.

Sir Ed Davey said the company's decision to pause plans to invest £200m at the city's biomedical campus was "deeply troubling" and "disastrous", adding "there is an American attack on Britain's pharmaceutical industry".

Tom Keith-Roach, the UK president of AstraZeneca, said Britain was "an increasingly challenging place to bring forward innovation" and announced the company would invest more into its US operations.

The US Embassy has been contacted for comment.

AstraZeneca's expansion would have created about 1,000 new jobs in Cambridge.

Sir Ed told BBC East: "The pharmaceutical industry has been one of Britain's leading industries and Cambridge and the East of England has been a key part feeding into that.

"This is a disastrous decision. We've seen from President Trump pressure [who] is saying, 'let's build up all the industry in the United States and charge higher prices for your goods elsewhere in the world'.

"There is an American attack on Britain's pharmaceutical industry."

The government said it was investing heavily in the pharmaceutical sector to make Britain "the destination of choice" .

AstraZeneca said it would be pausing its previously announced £200m investment in Cambridge's biomedical campus

The Liberal Democrat leader said the government should be standing up to Trump and described the US president as "no longer a reliable ally".

He called on ministers to make drug pricing part of the US/UK trade deal, which was still being finalised.

"The way you negotiate [with Trump] is to build up your own strength by showing you have alternatives. Let's rebuild our trading relationship with Europe, let's build our trading strength by trading with our commonwealth allies," Sir Ed added.

Mr Keith-Roach told MPs on the Science, Innovation and Technology select committee on Monday that Britain pays far less than many other companies for its medicines and therefore it was challenging to bring new drugs to the UK market.

Science minister Lord Patrick Vallance acknowledged that the NHS will have to pay more for medicines and agreed that the approval and regulatory process for new drugs needs to be sped up.

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said the company was "constantly reassessing" the investment needs of the firm.

The government said it has committed up to £520m to the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.

A spokesperson added that ministers remained "confident in life sciences as a driver of both economic growth and better health outcomes, and our door remains open to future engagement" with the pharmaceutical industry.

AstraZeneca's global headquarters are at its "discovery centre" on Cambridge's biomedical campus

Sir Ed was speaking ahead of his party conference in Bournemouth at the weekend, which will see the Lib Dems celebrate their success in this year's local elections.

The Liberal Democrats now has a record number of MPs in the East of England, three of them in Cambridgeshire.

It also runs a growing number of local councils including Cambridgeshire County Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

Sir Ed claimed that there were now "two big parties of change in British politics".

"There is Nigel Farage and Reform who want to make Britain like Trump's America: very chaotic with people paying for their healthcare [and] the Liberal Democrats who are much truer to patriotic British values, where we want to reform the NHS so we get proper healthcare, reform the energy industry and tackle climate change," Sir Ed said.

The Liberal Democrats will discuss a range of issues at their conference and there will be a session on how to counter the threat of Reform UK, the Liberal Democrat leader added.