The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has abandoned its plans to build a new facility near Macclesfield, Cheshire. Instead, it will push on with plans for a new manufacturing plant in Ireland. Among the reasons cited for the change of direction were a lack of commitment to delivering green energy, of regulatory experts and of manufacturing incentives. AstraZeneca's chief executive also said that access to clinical trials was an obstacle, indicating that trials were delayed because the NHS is overwhelmed.
It is a sad comment on the state of UK government that the chosen partner for pioneering vaccine development by the Oxford Vaccine Group sees no future here, even after the supposed clean-up by Sunak and Hunt.
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Both the BBC and the i newspaper chose to characterise the AstraZeneca decision as caused by UK tax rates and for no other reason. Was the motivation to stir up the dispute over tax cuts in the Conservative party? Or perhaps the media here were leaned on by the fossil-fuel lobby?
Whatever, I shall stick to my headline and the direct quotes published by the Irish Times. The headline may have been argumentative, but at least the text of my blog made clear that several factors informed the AZ decision. Tax was almost incidental.
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