Yesterday morning, the Chancellor told a gathering of private equity chiefs that “you’re only going to get growth if you get investment.” Later that day, one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies announced it was pulling out of a £1bn investment in London. 

Merck, the £300bn pharma giant, has pulled the plug on a £1bn project at London’s King’s Cross, saying the UK is just “not internationally competitive.” The building was already under construction, and now, with the project pulled, over 100 research scientists will be laid off as the company looks elsewhere for its future plans. 

It follows a similar decision by AstraZeneca, the UK’s most valuable public company, to pull its £400m investment in a new vaccines site in Liverpool, citing a lack of government support. 

You’re entitled to ask why these hugely profitable pharma companies are moaning about a lack of government – or taxpayer – support, and it’s a fair question – but the nature of their businesses is such that they are woven into government strategy and support schemes for supporting the research and development that ultimately ends up in the NHS. 

In an ultra competitive market – and when Donald Trump is engineering creative ways to lure these firms to the US – the government can’t afford to play fast and loose.

Merck said yesterday that “Unless a change is........

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