Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology,
, delivered a speech at Bio Industry Association on
Thursday 29 January 2026.
"Good evening! It's absolutely wonderful to be here to help
celebrate this incredible sector.
My brief message tonight is very simple…
…there is no path to stronger growth in this country…
…no answer to how we pay our way, and compete with the rest of
the world…
…nor any route to a better NHS, and a better future for patients,
without the British life sciences and biotech sector, leading
from the front and centre.
You already employ more than 350,000 people.
And contribute over £145 billion to our economy.
In just the last few years, we've had so many phenomenal
breakthroughs. Like Autolus and their new treatment for a rare
type of leukaemia.
Vertex developing a gene-editing therapy for blood
disorders.
And Bristol Myers Squibb's immunotherapy jab that means cancer
patients can now be treated in 5 minutes – instead of sitting for
an hour with an IV drip.
You are changing lives, changing our country too.
But I know that you, and we, want to go even further together.
Our goal is to make the UK the top life sciences economy in
Europe by 2030.
And the third, globally, by 2035.
That ambition drives not only me as the Science and Tech
Secretary, but the Chancellor, and our Prime
Minister.
And we have powerful champions in government, including the
fantastic , and Steve Bates at our
expanded Office for Life Sciences.
In the six months since we launched our Life Sciences Sector
Plan we have made real progress.
We're making the NHS a better customer for innovation.
Speeding up clinical trials, which we can and should expect to
see much more progress on.
A new Health Data Research Service (HDRS): a single, secure
access point to national scale health data.
A landmark pharma deal with the US.
And we are putting the biggest ever investment into R&D funding of any
government ever, including more than £38 billion for UKRI.
And I am really delighted to confirm that alongside extra
investment for AIresearch and for engineering
biology, the dedicated budget for life sciences will guarantee
£1.5 billion for R&D in this sector, over
the next 4 years.
And also I'm delighted to announce that the
MRC Lab for
Molecular Biology, in Cambridge…
…Britain's very own “Nobel Prize factory”…
…will receive 10-years of guaranteed funding.
Starting with around £50 million a year, over the next four
years, in this Spending
Review.
But you know better than anyone that public money is part only of
the equation.
We have got to unlock private investment too.
This government wants to get Britain's wealth doing more to back
Britain's innovators.
That's why the Chancellor announced the Mansion House Accord, and
why as Work and Pensions Secretary I introduced the Pension
Schemes Bill, to drive consolidation in the pensions market, to
boost investment in UK PLC.
And it's why in June, the British Business Bank (BBB) launched its £4 billion
Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative, to help promising
firms to scale up, and keep them in the UK for longer.
So let me just finish by saying this.
You are one of Britain's greatest national assets.
When we work in partnership, the government and businesses
together…
…patients get faster access to better drugs…
…companies scale-up and stay in the UK…
…jobs are created, putting more money into people's pockets,
helping boost our economy.
That is the promise found in this room.
That is why you are so important, so let us crack on with the
job.
Thank you."
