Rachel Reeves hails £50m boost for Newcastle medicine factory on visit to North East
by Daniel Holland · ChronicleLiveThe Chancellor has hailed a £50 million deal to build a state-of-the-art medicines manufacturing facility in Newcastle.
Rachel Reeves toured Accord Healthcare’s factory in Fawdon on Friday morning after it was announced that the pharmaceutical giant would be putting a major investment into the city, backed by the Government. The health firm, which manufactures medicines for oncology and autoimmune diseases, says its plans will create more than 50 new jobs in the city and safeguard the future of the site.
News of the joint public-private investment will also come as a welcome boost to a part of Newcastle that was rocked last year by the closure of its Nestlé confectionary factory, which has been sold to the Yorkshire-based Country Style Foods bakery. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on her visit to the Accord facility, Ms Reeves said the investment would secure hundreds of good-paying jobs doing “amazing” work in producing life-saving drugs.
She added: “This is exactly the sort of investment we want to see in the UK but that sort of investment only comes when you have a Government committed to economic stability, not the chaos we have seen in the last few years, and a Government that wants to partner with business. We announced in the Budget on Wednesday a £520 million life sciences manufacturing scheme, so we want more investment like this and the North East is a really important hub for life sciences in the UK.”
Ms Reeves also defended her first Budget as Chancellor as “signficant” for the North East, after accusations from critics that there had been little to cheer for the region on Wednesday. The big local news after Ms Reeves’ address in the Commons was the revelation that Labour was scrapping the dualling of the A1 in Northumberland, while a number of other hoped-for projects were not mentioned at all – including the final funding for the Tyne Bridge’s restoration, a bid to open a £14 million national centre for writing in Newcastle, and the future of the Hitachi Rail factory in Newton Aycliffe.
Ms Reeves again touted her confirmation of £25 million of Government funding to remediate land where the Crown Works film studio will be built in Sunderland. That money had already been pledged this March under the Conservative Government as part of the North East’s trailblazer devolution deal and was formally allocated by the North East Combined Authority (NECA) in September.
However, the Chancellor insisted that her predecessors in Downing Street “made a lot of announcements but they didn’t actually put any money behind these things” and said it “now has a budget line”. Sources have indicated to the LDRS that North East mayor Kim McGuinness had raised the Crown Works cash with the Treasury in the lead up to the Budget as something that could not be cut, though it is unclear whether there was a serious and specific threat to it.
Following this week’s Budget, Ms McGuinness will also be given control over a single funding settlement from 2026 which the Chancellor said means the mayor “should be able to spend that money in a way that delivers for the North East”.
Executive vice president of Accord Healthcare, Paul Tredwell, said that the investment announced on Friday was “positive news for the medicines manufacturing industry across the UK” and would help the nation respond to future public health emergencies.
Welcoming the news, Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell added: “Over the last eight years, Accord Healthcare have worked hard to develop their Fawdon site, providing good local jobs and improving the UK’s medicines resilience. Today’s announcement of this investment is a vote of confidence in Newcastle as this Labour government does all it can, working with business, to grow our economy.”
Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community
Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community for all the latest news direct to your phone.
To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.