The Chief Executive of AstraZeneca has blamed the high corporation tax rate as the reason for the company's switch from building their new £330 million manufacturing facility in Macclesfield.

The comments come after AstraZeneca revealed promising full-year results and strong growth in some areas yesterday (February 09th)

Sir Pascal Soriot said "'We want to invest in the UK but we need to see supporting policies for the whole industry. You need an environment that gives you good returns and an incentive to invest."

AstraZeneca's factory in Macclesfield

The facility which was hoped to bring 200 jobs to the area will now be built in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

Sir Soriot said that a lower corporation tax would be needed but was 'unfortunately going up'

The Government announced in November that corporation tax was going up from 19% to 25% from April.

The news of AstraZeneca switch to Ireland comes after new figures showed that the U.K avoided falling into recession in 2022, with zero growth between October and December.

The office of national statistics also revealed that the North West's unemployment rate was slightly above the current national average at 3.8% but productivity in the region followed the national trend and remained stagnant.