By Laurence Turner MP

The UK has a life sciences problem.

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Not a science problem - our research base is world-class. Nor is it a talent problem - we train some of the best clinicians and researchers anywhere. The problem is the old assumption, reflected in decades of investment decisions, that life sciences begin and end in the ‘golden triangle’ of London, Oxford, and Cambridge.

Birmingham trains many apprentices and graduates, but historically too few stayed in the city. Now, at the old Pebble Mill site in Selly Oak, the University of Birmingham's Precision Health Technologies Accelerator is creating skilled jobs and opportunities – all connected by the A38 and the Cross City Line to new manufacturing sites and housing. This is economic transformation in practice, and its potential must be nurtured across south Birmingham.

This overlooks the critical contribution of the West Midlands. Birmingham is still the place where the future is made, and that is as true of life sciences as it is of nuclear research and advanced manufacturing. No other region can rival our convergence of expertise, affordable research space, and population diversity. This combination is already turning long-held ambitions into reality.

In my constituency of Birmingham Northfield, life sciences is finally bringing manufacturing jobs back to Longbridge, twenty years after the closure of MG Rover.

This........

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