Darlington-based Populus Select, which helps life sciences and pharmaceutical firms to secure key personnel, has written to the Government warning that a new NHS drugs levy could derail its Levelling Up strategy.

The firm, which works with some of the largest pharmaceutical businesses in the world, has added its voice to concerns that an increased levy would deter investment in research and development, stall job creation, or even push companies to locate themselves outside of the UK – putting the Levelling Up agenda at risk.

  • To nominate someone for a BUSINESSiQ Award, CLICK HERE

The new levy, set to take effect in 2023, would see an estimated £3.3billion going to the Treasury – up more than 25 percent from the £563million paid last year and £1.8 billion this year.

Writing to Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Grant Schapps, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Populus Select’s managing director Sim Hall highlights the growth opportunities within science-based industries and calls on politicians to work in collaboration with the largely multinational pharmaceutical sector to find a middle-ground, lest they re-shore their operations in more favourable countries, rather than investing to create UK jobs in places like the North East and North West of England and protecting jobs in areas including Oxfordshire.

Read next: 

Sim said: “In the Chancellor’s Budget statement he correctly said that the UK’s future prosperity could be unlocked by using Brexit freedoms to attract investment in life sciences and pharmaceuticals, and foster the creation of high growth businesses. From my perspective, as someone who speaks with leaders within these sectors on a daily basis about their investment and hiring plans, this latest announcement is counter-intuitive to those aims.

“We need to put in place a taxation and regulatory system which encourages investment to be delivered in Britain. Indeed, we need that investment to benefit the regions of the UK like the North East if we are to deliver highly-skilled, highly-paid jobs needed to succeed with Levelling Up."