AstraZeneca scraps plan to expand vaccine plant in the UK in blow to government

LONDON (AP) — Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on Friday cancelled a planned 450 million-pound ($560 million) investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant in northwest England, blaming the new Labour government for diluting the financial support that had been offered by the previous Conservative administration.

In a blow to Treasury chief Rachel Reeves at the end of a week when she trumpeted the government's plans to bolster British economic growth and make the country more attractive to international investors, AstraZeneca said it will no longer expand its facility in Speke, near Liverpool.

“Several factors have influenced this decision including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government’s proposal," a company spokesperson said.

The existing facility will continue to operate and no jobs are at risk.

The government said a “change in the make-up of the investment” proposed by AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in Cambridge, England, had led to a change in the grant it was willing to offer.

Details of what had changed were not immediately available.

The previous government said the investment would have given the U.K.’s life sciences sector a boost as well as improving public health protection and pandemic preparedness.

AstraZeneca became particularly prominent during the coronavirus pandemic, when it partnered with Oxford University to create one of the vaccines.