Fears for Astra UK vaccination centre: Treasury cuts could derail £450m Liverpool project

AstraZeneca’s £450m investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant is in doubt after the Treasury threatened to cut state aid.

The pharmaceutical giant is reportedly considering scrapping a planned facility near Liverpool and could move the project to France.

This comes a day after it broke records by becoming Britain’s first £200bn company.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to cut spending on the project by more than £20m after ordering a review of the last government’s commitments.

That would bring state aid for the project to around £40m, after Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt offered at least £65m.

“There is a considerable gap that would certainly threaten investment,” one source told the Financial Times.

The Treasury confirmed it was in “positive discussions” with Astra over the development and did not deny plans to cut state funding.

Astra, which was the developer of one of several Covid vaccines launched during the pandemic, declined to comment.

Last month, its boss, Pascal Soriot, said: “We are absolutely ready to go.”

This contract is currently being processed. We hope to be able to conclude it quickly and proceed with the investment itself.

The Conservative government announced plans for a new vaccination site in Speke in March, saying it would be “operationally net zero”, with power supplied by renewable energy sources.

A Treasury spokesman said yesterday: ‘We are committed to making the UK one of the best places in the world to develop and manufacture new and innovative medicines.

‘The Chancellor is receiving regular updates on this planned investment in Speke and we are in positive discussions with AstraZeneca to support its implementation.’

On Tuesday, Astra became the first UK company to be valued at £200bn, closing with a market capitalisation of £200.3bn, ahead of Shell on £176bn.

Only two other companies listed on the London Stock Exchange have values ​​exceeding £100bn: HSBC (£120bn) and Unilever (£118bn).