The British political story you may have missed in the last few weeks

Given all the news in British politics over the last few weeks it would have been easy to miss the UK Labour Party’s launch of a new Industrial Strategy. With the Labour Party currently polling ahead of the Conservative Government, investors would be wise to start following the their proposals more closely.

Labour have put life sciences at the heart of this new Industrial Strategy, citing the success of the development of the Covid-19 vaccine. For those in the life sciences sector there are a few key points to note:

• Encouraging long-term investment is one of Labour’s key objectives.
• Labour’s stated aim is for R&D spending to reach 3%, ahead of the Government’s current target of 2.4%.
• Labour have signalled a willingness to use strategic procurement to de-risk new products.
• There is a recognition that the UK is not fully realising the benefits of the NHS. These include improving the UK’s underperforming clinical trial capacity, as well as leveraging health data sets.
• A desire to encourage greater collaboration between the UK’s leading universities and businesses, including expanding the growth financing available for start-ups.

By their own admission this Industrial Strategy is only the first step, with the promise of more detailed policy proposals to follow. In the coming months the Labour Party needs to develop more specific suggestions if they are to be seen as the party of R&D and growth.

Life sciences promises to be one of the sectors that both the Government and the Labour Party will seek to prioritise as an election approaches.