With the Budget approaching on March 6th, a wide array of interested parties representing various areas of life, commerce and organisations are busy making representations to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt over what they want him to do.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has now made its own pitch on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry.
It noted that Mr Hunt mentioned the sector in his Autumn Statement as being of great importance to the UK economy, announcing a support package of £520 million to help it grow, as well as making the full expensing capital allowances model permanent.
The Budget submission from the ABPI set out four areas in which it wants the government to take steps to support the life sciences sector more.
Firstly, it wants Mr Hunt to “enhance the UK’s long-term tax and fiscal offer to global and domestic companies,” such as by classifying capital expenditure as being eligible for research and development tax credits and extending the definition of the ‘full expensing’ model beyond plants and machinery to valuable strategic capital investments.
The submission also urged the government to “increase public investment in the power of innovative medicines,” arguing that investment in certain medicines concerning stroke prevention, type 2 diabetes, asthma and kidney disease would collectively give the UK population an extra £429,000 years of good health and the economy a £17.9 billion boost.
It also wants the government to “deliver the new Life Sciences Investment Programme effectively,” by targeting additional measures instead of just giving more cash to existing ones, and to “ensure a globally competitive regulatory system that supports innovation and research”, such as by increasing the capacity of the MRHA.
The government has been given positive news ahead of the Budget as better-than-expected tax receipts in January mean the month delivered a record surplus of £16.7 billion.
This may provide more scope for tax breaks for the life sciences sector and other businesses, although with an election looming Mr Hunt may consider it a political priority to cut personal taxation first.
