Merck Research Site

Lord Bassam of Brighton Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I reiterate my point about VPAG: it ended up in an unexpected place. It was negotiated in good faith by the previous Government and the industry, and the result was not the one that anyone expected. We are negotiating to try to get that in the right place. We got very close to a deal. That is clearly now complicated by a number of factors, including the prospect of tariffs from the US. We continue to talk to the industry regularly on all these matters.

[Lord Bassam of Brighton (Lab)]

My Lords, the decision by Merck is disappointing, but I am encouraged by what the Minister said about the way in which the Government are approaching this. Is it not the case that the botched Brexit deal and the failure by the previous Government to raise levels of investment have left us in this rather invidious position? This decision stretches back more than the past 14 months; it was left to us by the previous Government.

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

There is no doubt that Brexit had an effect on the entire sector. It also had an effect on academia and led to us ending up with a very much reduced income from the Horizon Europe programme. There was a significant effect there. It is true that NHS uptake of new medicines as a percentage of the total has decreased; that decrease started somewhere around 2014-15 and has been relentless since. That has been part of creating an environment that is not conducive, and part of why, as part of the Life Sciences Sector Plan, we are determined to support R&D, company formation and growth and to make sure that the NHS is an adopter of innovation.