Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)

My Lords, does the Minister realise that AstraZeneca’s move to reverse its decision to establish a £450 million manufacturing facility in Speke has come as a tremendous setback to my home area, to Merseyside and to the UK? I am very glad that the Minister is answering this Question, because he is widely respected for the work he did as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government for five years, and also for the research he has done and the work he did in the life sciences sector. Does the Minister realise that attracting inward investment is one of the most competitive areas across the globe? Is it true that the Treasury, in a last-minute bid to cut the amount of the grant by what is described as an infinitesimal amount, sabotaged the deal? Will he please explain to his colleagues at the Treasury that we need to re-establish an attractive business environment in the UK, rather than the increased tax burden and the Employment Rights Bill which is going to destroy jobs? He alone can probably explain what went wrong. Does he realise that Dr Clive Dix, the former chair of the Covid-19 Vaccine Taskforce, has said: “The Government had an open goal”, and have scored “an own goal”? What went wrong?