Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca scraps plans for £450m vaccine plant in Liverpool but insists its current site in Speke would continue as normal with no threat to jobs. Tony McDonough reports

AstraZeneca says it is scrapping plans to build a new £450m vaccine plant in south Liverpool due to a lack of Government support.

In March 2024 it was announced to great fanfare that pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca was to build a new vaccine research, development and manufacturing facility at its existing site in Speke. It would be powered by renewable energy.

This announcement was bundled into the then Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spring Budget speech. It is believed Mr Hunt verbally promised the company £65m of Government cash towards the new plant.

However, the election of a new Labour Government in July saw all previous spending plans put under review and LBN reported in August that Chancellor Rachel Reeves wanted to reduce that support by around £20m.

It was revealed then that the pharmaceutical giant was considering pulling the plug on the project. On Friday the company confirmed that decision

In a statement it said: “Following discussions with the current Government, we are no longer pursuing our planned investment at Speke.

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

However, AstraZeneca insisted its site in Speke would “continue to produce and supply our flu vaccine, for patients in the UK and around the world”. None of the current jobs at the plant would be affected, it added.

This decision is a big blow to city region metro mayor Steve Rotheram who is keen to build on Liverpool city region’s existing life sciences sector.

At the time of the original announcement in March last year, Mr Rotheram said: “It is fantastic to see a vote of confidence from AstraZeneca, a global leader in pharmaceuticals, in the work we’re doing building our health and life sciences sector.”

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On Friday The Treasury said a change in “the make-up” of the investment originally proposed by AstraZeneca had led to a reduced government grant offer being made.

It added: “All government grant funding has to demonstrate value for the taxpayer and unfortunately, despite extensive work from government officials, it has not been possible to achieve a solution.”