GlaxoSmithKline Build First UK Factory In 40 Years

GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceuticals giant, has unveiled plans to build its first new manufacturing facility in the UK in almost 40 years.

As part of a £500m investment Glaxo expects to create about 1,000 jobs with the proposed biopharmaceutical facility at Ulverston in Cumbria.

The news comes following confirmation from the government in the new budget that they will create a "patent box" to encourage investment in research and development in the UK.

Glaxo currently employs 15,000 people in the UK, including almost 6,000 in manufacturing. They said construction on the £350m project at Ulverston was expected to begin in 2014-15, depending on planning consents.

"You have GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world's biggest companies, one of the great British success stories, saying the budget has changed their view of Britain as a place to invest," George Osborne told BBC Breakfast. The chancellor welcomed the announcement, citing it as proof the government was improving the economy.

"They're going to create 1,000 jobs here. Now, surely my responsibility as the country's chancellor is to get the economy moving, to get jobs created, and when big companies say that about Britain, people should sit up and notice that we are changing the British economy for the better."

Sir Andrew Witty, Glaxo chief executive, said the patent box, which introduces a lower rate of corporation tax on profits generated from UK-owned intellectual property, transformed the company's view of the UK as an investment location.

He said it ensured that the "medicines of the future will not only be discovered, but also continue to be made here in Britain".

(H/GK)