AstraZeneca axes £450m vaccine plant in Liverpool, blaming state funding cut

AstraZeneca says several factors influenced the decision ‘including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government’s proposal’. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

Rachel Reeves was accused of scoring a “massive own goal,” after AstraZeneca scrapped plans for a £450m expansion of its vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside, blaming a cut in the funding on offer from the government.

Only two days after the chancellor highlighted life sciences as a key UK strength in a speech setting out her growth policies, the company said it had decided to scrap the high-profile project in the Liverpool suburb.