Hammond hails UK as ‘open for business’ after airport go-ahead
PHILIP HAMMOND today declared Britain “open for business” after the expansion of London City Airport was approved, a £275 million investment by a pharmaceutical giant, and stronger than expected economic growth.
The Chancellor visited the airport this morning to announce that a £344 million expansion programme had been approved by planning chiefs.
Ministers hope the plans — which include a bigger terminal, a new aircraft taxiway, more parking spaces for planes and upgraded public transport links — will deliver a £1.5 billion economic boost by 2025.
Airport chiefs estimate that 1,600 new staff posts will be created, as well as 500 construction jobs.
Environmentalists and many residents will be dismayed by the expansion which could see passenger numbers rising from 4.3 million last year to 6.5 million within 11 years, with a further 32,000 flights annually.
But Mr Hammond said: “London City Airport’s ambitious growth plans send a clear signal that Britain is open for business.”
Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline brushed aside Brexit jitters and announced that it is pumping £275 million into its three UK manufacturing sites, dubbing the UK an “attractive location”.
Initial figures also showed the economy picked up pace in this year’s second quarter, growing 0.6 per cent.
DRUGS giant GSK today delivered a major boost for Brexit Britain as it announced plans to pump £275 million into its UK operations.
The FTSE 100 firm will splurge the cash on kitting out three manufacturing sites in County Durham, Scotland and Hertfordshire to beef up production of its lung and biopharma medicines over the next three to five years. The investment puts a further dampener on widespread fears Brexit would spark an exodus of multinationalnal companies out of Britain.
Sir Andrew Witty, the boss of GSK who was ennobled by former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012, said :“It is testament to our skilled UKK workforce and the country’sy’s leading position in life sciences that we are making these investments in advanced manufacturing here.”
A total of £92 million will be spent at the Barnard Castle site in County Durham to build a new sterilising facility.
Another £110 million will be spent at the Montrose plant in Scotland to make new ingredients for respiratory drugs and the final £74 million will go to the Ware plant in Hertfordshire to help it make asthma inhalers.
The company has nine manufacturing sites in the UK, employing 6000 people. The strong endorsement of a UK outside the EU is at odds with signals from GSK before the June 23 vote. Witty (pictured), who leaves GSK in March 2017, had put his name to a letter in May, which said there were “significant advantages for the life sciences sector in the UK remaining in the EU” and that “leaving the EU would create uncertainty and potentially add complexity”.
GSK today said it viewed the UK as an “attractive location for investment”, because it had a competitive tax system, which fosters research and development. The so-called Patent Box tax law cuts taxes on UK-generated intellectual property. The law was widely seen as a major driver for SoftBank’s recent big-ticket purchase of UK chips designer ARM, which the new Tory Government said was a sign Britain could go it alone in the world. Ministers were also keen to crow about today’s GSK decision, with Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark calling it “a clear vote of confidence in Britain”.
“GSK’s recognition of our skilled workforce, world-leading scientific capabilities and competitive tax environment is further proof that there really is no place better in Europe to grow a business.”
A slump in pharmaceutical manufacturing contributed to a fall in the UK’s total production output in May. A 6.5% decrease in the making of basic pharma products in May from April sent total production output down 0.5%.